Hearts of Steel
by Kodi-Luna
Summary: The Heartless have returned. In order to defeat them, Sora and friends must team up with some new allies. To save the worlds, the Key-Bearer is going to need a little help from the Fullmetal Alchemist.
1. Destiny Islands The Adventure Begins!

**AN: This fic was the result of some drawings I did where I took the Elric brothers and drew them in Kingdom Hearts inspired outfits. It inspired me to actually write a cross – over story, so here it is, and you may notice that I edited the FMA designs a little based on my drawings, but they still look basically the same. This story is set after KH 2, but before Coded, in the KH timeline, and I've treated the FMA characters like Final Fantasy characters and basically removed them from their own timeline. So you might see some people who are dead in FMA alive and well here (On the basis that: if Aeris can live, so can Hughes!) and some stuff might not make chronological sense. Like, Al has his body, but Ed still has automail. And I'm also using the FMA Mangaverse, so there may be some spoilers for people who haven't read it or watched Brotherhood.**

**Also, this is my first fic, so go easy on me! Advice and critiques are welcome, but don't flame! And don't get mad if I don't listen.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or Kingdom Hearts or any of their characters**

The darkness was swallowing the world. A typhoon of shadows was closing in around the edges of the city while a second column rose from the center into the clouded sky. Purple lightning flashed behind clouds of pure darkness and strong winds pulled trees and buildings right out of the ground. The laws of physics seemed to vanish as the debris was drawn upwards towards the menacing sky. As the ring of darkness tightened around what was left of the city, the ground began to break apart, revealing a chasm of darkness and ominous light. The strange shadowed creatures that had brought this destruction with them began to vanish as the city crumbled. The keyhole had been opened. The world was lost.

"Sora? Sora!"

"Ugh…"

Sora's vision slowly came into focus and he was hit with immediate confusion. He was staring up at the sky and he could feel the grainy sand of the island underneath him, there was also a dull soreness running through his back. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and dusted some of the sand off. He looked up to see the tree he'd been sitting on only moments before, bent into an awkward horizontal shape, making an excellent bench. This tree, and the tiny island it grew on, was where they had first spoken of leaving their world and where they had been reunited. He would always come here with Riku and Kairi after school to talk and look out over the ocean, as they did that afternoon. But he had no memory of getting up or moving, one second he'd been sitting on the tree trunk, and the next he'd been laying on the ground.

"Sora, are you okay?" Sora turned to see Kairi on his right side, looking very concerned, she'd put her hand on his shoulder as if to support him and keep him from falling back into the sand.

"Uh, y-yeah, what happened?" Sora responded, turning to see Riku on his left with an equally concerned look.

"Well, you kind of…fell…" was Kairi's response. Sora turned to her with wide eyes; he couldn't possibly be that uncoordinated, could he?

"More like fainted." Added Riku, he was looking at Sora in a very serious manner, "You were saying something, then your voice trailed off and you just fell backwards off the tree."

_I guess that explains a lot_ thought Sora _but why…_ "Sora, how do you feel?" Kairi asked cautiously, still looking very concerned. Sora blushed, he didn't like making Kairi worry, and he hesitated for a moment before he answered.

"I-I'm fine! See?" He stood up to prove his point, "I probably just haven't had enough to drink ya'know?" He tried laughing to lighten the mood but it didn't really help. Riku said nothing and Kairi didn't look very convinced. He took her hand to try and comfort her and helped her onto her feet, "Really, I'm okay."

Kairi just stared at him, "If you say so…" she finally said, but she didn't look like she believed him. She gazed out over the water, avoiding looking him in the eyes, "We should go, it's getting late." She let go of Sora, grabbed her school bag and started down the wood bridge that connected the small outcropping with the tree on it to the rest of the island.

"You sure you're okay?" Riku asked, he looked less convinced than Kairi. Sora just nodded. Riku took his own bag and followed after the girl. Sora waited a moment before following. He looked out towards the sun as it began to set. The truth was he wasn't feeling okay, not that he would tell his friends, he didn't want them to worry. But there was a terrible pain in his heart, and a feeling of emptiness and foreboding. He looked up at the sky as the stars began to appear. There were too many to count, and yet he got the feeling that one was missing.

"Has a world fallen to the darkness?" he asked himself quietly. But that didn't make sense, he'd defeated Xehanort and the Organization, so the heartless shouldn't be much of a threat. They couldn't destroy a world unless somebody unlocked the keyhole, and why would they do that? But no matter what he told himself, he couldn't shake the feeling that something big was about to happen.

The next month was very awkward for Sora. Riku and Kairi must have known that something was up because they were constantly keeping an eye on him. They would always walk him all the way home after school, even though their own homes were in different directions, and any time he suggested they go to the island, they would come up with some excuse or reason not to go. They must have concluded that it was somehow connected to his fainting spell. Then again, all the weird stuff that happened to them would usually begin on that island, so there concerns were valid. But Sora was slowly discovering that he wasn't particularly fond of being baby sat all the time, it wasn't like he was in any danger, he hadn't fainted once since that day, and the foreboding feeling had more or less vanished…kind of. His friends were just being paranoid.

And today was no different, as they approached his doorstep he turned to try and talk them into believing that nothing was wrong, for the millionth time. "You guys really don't have to walk me home like this all the time…" his words didn't seem to have any effect on the mood; they were obviously thinking the opposite. He decided to try something else, "How 'bout we go hang out on the island tomorrow?"

"Can't", they responded at almost the same time. _Jeez, can't they at least be more subtle _Sora thought.

"I got a lot of work to do" Riku said. He was looking off into the distance, or rather; as far down the road as one could see from Sora's front path.

"And I promised Selphie that I'd go shopping with her!" was Kairi's excuse. She smiled innocently, "You can come with us if you want." She offered.

Sora made a face, "Thanks, I think I'll pass. No offense but watching a couple of girls squeal over clothes isn't really my idea of fun." She acted offended but failed to hide her smile. Sora smiled and nodded he turned to open his front door, "It's fine, I'll call Tidus or Wakka and see if they can go." But he knew by the time he called, they would have been talked into saying they couldn't go either, Riku and Kairi were determined to keep him off the island. "I guess I'll see you later then…" They waved goodbye and then turned to leave. Sora ducked into his house and shut the door. He let out a heavy sigh as soon as he couldn't hear them anymore. When were they going to lay off? Even if something did happen, he was the Keyblade Master; it wasn't like he couldn't defend himself.

"Sora? Is that you?" came his mother's voice from the kitchen.

"Yeah, hey Mom."

"Dinner's almost ready, why don't you go change."

"'Kay…" Sora halfheartedly dragged his feet up the stairs to his room. He changed out of his school uniform and lay down on his bed. He let out another sigh. He looked at one of his gloved hands, these clothes had been a gift from the fairies in Twilight Town, and he'd worn them when he'd saved the world. He sighed and put his hand back down. _ It kind of sucks…_ he thought, he'd done so much and been a real hero, but so few people knew about it, and almost none of them lived on the destiny islands. And the only ones who did seemed to have forgotten because they were treating him like a helpless child. He turned his head to gaze out the window.

He almost jumped when he saw the sky. It was streaked red and pink by a setting sun, which would have been normal, except it was way too early for the sun to set. He leaned out the window to get a better look; other people on the street were pointing and staring too, so he definitely wasn't imagining this. What was even freakier was that the sun was setting in the wrong place, instead of dipping over the horizon out over the ocean; it seemed to be setting behind the island where he'd fainted all those weeks ago. The island where everything always began.

_Maybe it's nothing_ Sora thought_ maybe it's just some weird weather phenomenon, or a volcano or something…_ he remembered seeing an odd sunset as a kid, one that had been caused by volcanic ash. But that didn't really explain the odd timing or location; his arguments weren't holding their ground very well. Then he saw it, a star fell across the sky in a bright streak of white against pink. The people on the street were stopping to make wishes on the shooting star, but he knew better, he knew what it meant.

The foreboding feeling suddenly returned along with a feeling of urgency, he leapt off the bed and dashed out of the room. He took the stairs two at a time and stopped only long enough to open the door before he bolted out of the house. "Sora? Where are you going?" he heard his mom calling after him, but he didn't stop to answer, he couldn't stop. It was as if an invisible force was pulling him, forcing him to go to the island, and he could feel that something bad would happen if he didn't make it in time. When he got to the docks he leapt into his boat and took off without even observing that Riku's and Kairi's were already missing. His arms ached as he paddled at top speed, and he desperately wished that he'd taken the chance to upgrade to a boat with an engine. But the closer he got to the island, the less he had to paddle; the ocean itself seemed to be pulling him towards his destination.

When he pulled up at the island he climbed out of the boat and ran across the beach, toward the secret cave that was hidden under overgrowth and tucked beneath the great tree at the center of the island. That was where the heart was, that was where he had to go.

He ripped the vines out of the way and stormed into the small cavern. The walls were covered in hundreds of drawings, scratched into them with rocks by the island children over the years, and a whole in the ceiling let in enough light to illuminate the decorated walls in an eerie manner. In the back was a large and mysterious wooden door. Many children had tried to open the door over the years, but Sora and his friends knew that it could only be opened in a very specific way, and that it never should be.

Sora was out of breath as he stared at the door in disbelief, the wood was solid, and the keyhole was not there. _Was it a false alarm? No! That can't be right!_ Sora felt confusion and then frustration, what was the island trying to tell him? He turned and left the secret place, trying to understand what he may have done wrong. He was so lost in thought, that he didn't notice the giant black shape hurtling towards him until the very last second.

Donald pushed the gummi ship to go faster. He could hear the engines moan as they pushed against their limits. But they couldn't take their time, they had to get there and they had to get there now. He heard Goofy mumble something from the passenger's seat and turned to look at him. Goofy was sitting uncomfortably and staring at the back seat out of the corner of his eyes. Donald turned to look at the back seat and their new companions who were riding there. One was staring out the window in total awe of the sights, but the other was staring at Donald and Goofy, and had been since they'd met. He looked like he couldn't wrap his mind around their existence and was trying to figure out exactly what they were. Donald turned away from the scrutinizing eyes and focused on driving. It didn't matter that the staring was making him angry or that he wanted to tell the guy off, all that mattered was getting to their destination on time, because if they didn't get their soon, it would be too late.

**AN: There's chapter one, not very exciting, I know. There's some action in the next chapter! Hope you liked it.**


	2. Destiny Islands The Heartless Attack

**AN: And now for some action, and the Elrics make their debuts, kinda. They were in the last chapter but they didn't do anything so it doesn't count. This is really my first time writing a battle scene, so I hope it's clear. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, no matter how much I wish I did **

Sora heard a shuffling sound and looked up to see a large black shape only inches away and ready to slash at him with powerful claws. It took him a second to realize what was happening, but he managed to dodge roll out of the way at the last second. When he was back on his feet he turned to face his attacker, only to find himself face to face with a heartless. "A neoshadow…" Sora said to himself, but he had never seen one on The Destiny Islands before, and something didn't seem right. It seemed like it was bigger than they usually were and Sora had a bad feeling that it was stronger too. But this wasn't a problem, Sora knew how to handle a heartless, it was his area of expertise. He summoned his keyblade, and readied his battle stance. "You wanna fight? Come an' get it!"

The Heartless let out a strange sound between a growl and a hiss, and lunged at Sora. Right before it attacked, Sora thought he'd caught a glimpse of a strange glowing mark on its chest, which didn't make sense because neoshadows weren't emblem heartless. But he didn't have time to think about it, because within a split second, the heartless was on top of him again. It wasn't just stronger it was faster, and it was all Sora could do to keep from getting ripped to shreds by its sharp claws. Its quick movements and fast swipes were keeping Sora on the defensive, and weren't giving him any time to attack back. If he tried to dodge roll out of the way, the heartless would close the distance faster than he could think of an attack.

Desperate, Sora leapt from the path onto the beach, and dashed across the sand towards the water. He hoped that the shifting sand would slow it down. He turned to defend himself and was relieved to find that the plan had worked, a little. The heartless was having a harder time keeping its footing in the sand and actually slipped a few times. _Good_ Sora thought_ now I can take it_. The slower movements gave Sora a chance to examine the heartless and he saw the glowing symbol he had questioned before. It looked like a circle with some sort of diagram inside and it was glowing on the neoshadows chest, it glowed brighter right before the neoshadow attacked which helped Sora anticipate its moves a little better, and also led him to believe that it was somehow involved in the heartless's improved skills.

The heartless finally managed to get its footing and come at him, but it was slow enough this time that Sora was easily able to dodge the attack and strike back. He swung the keyblade and made contact with the side of the heartless's head. The creature let out garbled screech and tumbled backwards across the beach. Some of the dark energy began to dissipate from the wound, but the heartless didn't disappear. Sora watched in confusion as it limped back to its feet._ You gotta be kidding me!_ He thought _I can't be that weak, that attack should have finished it!_ But his thoughts were interrupted as something sharp collided forcefully with the side of his face.

Sora went rolling through the sand and dropped his keyblade in the process. When he managed to sit up he was dazed and confused. His head was throbbing, he was pretty dizzy, and he had a bad feeling that he'd swallowed some sand. But what concerned him the most was what had hit him. A second neoshadow heartless was standing in the breakers, where Sora had been only a moment before. It had snuck up behind him and attacked when he wasn't looking. Sora put his hand up to the side of his face where the heartless had attacked him. When he pulled it away, there was blood on his gloves. "Great…" he said to himself. He put his hand back to his face to try and stop the bleeding and throbbing. He stumbled to his feet and looked around for the keyblade, but it was nowhere to be seen. Now he was up against two super-powered heartless with no weapon.

"Oh no…" he said as he heard a hissing sound from behind him. He turned to see a third neoshadow approaching the battle. "Oh come on! Since when do they hunt in packs?" All three heartless were closing in on him, and he was in no shape to fight. He was surrounded, injured and his weapon was missing. The only thing he could think of was that it really sucked that after all he went through he was about to be beaten by a bunch of neoshadows . The heartless lunged and he closed his eyes.

He didn't notice the footsteps or the slashing sounds, but he heard the heartless screech in pain, and when a few moments passed and he was still alive, he figured that something must have happened. Sora opened his eyes and almost couldn't believe what he saw. A boy he'd never seen before was standing with his back to him. He had blond, braided hair and wore a long red coat that was torn at the bottom and had a strange cross-like symbol on the back, and, was that a metal arm? But what caught Sora's attention was the weapon in the boy's hand, he was holding a keyblade. It was silver and red and the handle resembled an Ouroboros symbol with a snake eating its tail, and the shaft looked like a cross with another snake wrapped around it, the same symbol that was on the back of his coat. The keychain was a small metal disk with a circular, diagram-like symbol carved into it. The shock of seeing another keyblade bearer and not dying was too much for Sora and he collapsed into the sand, then again, it may have been that his headache was making him dizzy. The boy turned to look at him. He had golden eyes that glowed with a fierce determination. He looked Sora up and down as if he was trying to size him up. Finally he spoke.

"You're not Sora by any chance are you?" he asked. Sora looked surprised; this guy knew who he was?

"Y-yeah," Sora managed to respond.

The guy looked at him and then at the heartless that were starting to recover and then back at him. "Really? Because I was told you were some all powerful keyblade master who could defeat any heartless, but you're just a kid."

Sora couldn't help getting angry, who was this guy anyway? "I'm not a kid! And look who's talking Shorty!" Well, he was short.

"WHO'RE YOU CALLIN' SO SMALL YOU CAN'T EVEN SEE HIM WITH A MAGNIFYING GLASS?"

Sora smirked, _Guess I struck a nerve_ he thought _but that's what he gets for calling me a kid!_ He was so busy gloating, and the other boy was too busy fuming that they didn't see that the heartless were coming at them again. Luckily, a convenient bolt of lightning knocked them out of the way. It also got the boys' attention.

"Sora! Are you okay? Ah! You're bleeding!" Kairi came running towards Sora at full speed, followed by Riku, and a few people Sora hadn't expected to see: Donald, who was obviously the source of the lighting, Goofy, looking very excited, and another boy who bore a striking resemblance to the one who had saved Sora and who also possessed a keyblade.

"I-I'm fine!" Sora lied as Kairi reached up to examine his wound.

"Liar!" she accused. "Donald! He's hurt can you heal him?"

"Right!" Donald turned and cast a cure spell. Sora was enveloped in a green light and when it faded, the pain and blood were all gone. "Now make yourself useful and help us get rid of those things." Donald yelled before casting a nasty fire spell that threw the heartless farther down the beach.

"Where's your keyblade?" said Riku, noticing that Sora was unarmed.

"I uh, might have, uh dropped it…" Riku just stared at him.

"Really?" he said, the question sounded more sarcastic than curious.

"Oh! Like it never happens to you!" Sora retorted. Riku looked up for a moment as if trying to remember. After a second he shook his head, he had a sarcastic grin on his face. "Well we're not all perfect" mumbled Sora under his breath, but Riku wasn't paying attention anymore.

He turned to the blond boy, "Can you cover him while he looks for it?" he asked.

The boy looked at Sora, "Yeah sure." He responded, he almost sounded bored. He then looked at the other boy who resembled him.

Sora followed his gaze and observed the other stranger. He had the same golden eyes and long blond hair as the first one, but he wore it in a pony tail and his bangs were cut shorter and parted to the side. He wore a similar jacket but it was short and blue instead of long and red, it had the same symbol on the back though. Both boys wore mostly black clothing under their jackets accessorized with belts and chains and zippers, as that was fashionable lately. The one in red seemed to have some sort of fancy pocket watch attached to his belt, and the one in blue had, was that a cat plushy? The one in blue also had odd spiked shoulder pads and spikes on his shoes. Sora turned his attention to the keyblade the second boy was holding. It was mostly metal with a round handle surrounded by spikes on the outside and a spiked half circle at the end of the shaft. The keychain looked a lot like the first boy's, but the circle looked different.

Sora looked at Kairi and then back at the boy, "Can you protect her for me please?" the boy looked Surprised.

Kairi, "Excuse me! I can fight too ya know!" she summoned her flowery keyblade as if to make a point.

"Yeah, I know." Said Sora, "Just, fight with him, okay?" Kairi scowled, the boy in blue smiled.

"You can count on me!" he seemed nice, nicer than the first one anyway, Sora felt like he could trust him.

"Great!" Sora didn't waste any more time, he ran towards the shoreline where he was pretty sure his keyblade was. Several more neoshadows had descended onto the beach but Riku and the others were handling them pretty well. Whenever one got to close to the unarmed Sora, the blond boy would knock them out of the way.

"Found it!" Sora screamed with joy when he finally located his keyblade half buried in the sand.

"Look out!" it was the blond boy's voice. Sora looked up to see a neoshadow about to pounce on him, and he hadn't dug out his keyblade yet. Suddenly a wall of rock shot out of the ground and the heartless flew into it with a painful smack. Sora turned in shock to see the blond boy with his hands on the ground. Blue sparks were traveling from his hands, into the ground and up into the wall.

"H-how did you just-"Sora didn't even know how to finish the question. The boy smirked; he clapped his hands and touched his right arm, which was in fact made of metal. The top of the arm extended into a blade that glinted in the sunlight.

"It's just something I can do." He said, Sora grunted, _Show off_ he thought, he turned and grabbed the handle of his keyblade; he gave it a sharp tug and yanked it out of the sand. He almost fell backwards from the momentum but managed to regain his footing in time to smack away the neoshadow who'd collided with the wall.

"Let's finish this." Sora was all serious when he said it, he'd had enough of these strange heartless, and he wanted answers.

"If you wanna kill them, you have to attack the circle." Said the blond boy, pointing at the glowing circle on the heartless's chest. _So that is the source of this weird power_ Sora thought_ and would it have killed him to tell me that sooner?_ The blond boy continued, "And it helps, if you hit them at the same time." He held up his own keyblade and Sora understood what he was saying.

They charged towards the heartless and swung their keyblades at the creature's chest, they hit the circle at the same time and the creature exploded into a cloud of darkness and then vanished.

Sora collapsed from relief, not even caring that he was sitting in the water, "Finally…"

"And this is why we didn't want you to come here! Agh! I knew something was up!" Kairi yelled. Donald had explained that something big was beginning to happen and that they had been sent by the king to retrieve Sora and his friends. And as the group walked towards the gummi ship on the other side of the island, Kairi had taken the chance to lecture Sora about not keeping secrets from his friends, especially when they can help him fight.

"Sorry." Sora said for the fifth time, but he was only half listening. He was thinking about how much stronger the heartless were, and those weird symbols…

"Did you notice?" Riku had snuck up next to Sora to talk.

"Notice what?" Sora asked

"The symbols on the heartless look like the ones on those boys' key chains." Sora thought about and realized Riku was right. Riku continued, "I think they know more than they're letting on."

They arrived at the gummi ship. Sora, Riku and Kairi had agreed to go without a second thought, if the worlds were in danger, then it was their job to save it. But he was curious about these new keyblade bearers, and he wanted answers.

"Hey!" Sora waited until the two boys were looking at him. "Why don't you tell us exactly what's going on?"

The two boys looked at each other and then the one in red responded. "Wish I could, but I don't really get it all myself, why don't you wait for that king of yours to explain it?"

"Hey! Show some respect!" Donald fumed in response to the King remark.

"He's right, brother, that was rude!" Said the boy in blue.

"So you're brothers?" Asked Sora, that explained the resemblance.

"Oh! That's right we never introduced ourselves!" The boy in blue continued, "I'm Alphonse Elric!"

"And I'm his older brother Edward Elric, also known as the Fullmetal Alchemist."

Sora stared at them, "If you're the older brother then why are you the shorter one?"

"WHO'RE YOU CALLIN' SHORT!"

**AN: Hurray for Short jokes **** I remembered Sora reacted badly to being called "kid" by a couple of characters and thought that that was a funny parallel to Ed's Short rants. They're both kind of hot headed, so I feel like they'd get on each other's nerves a lot. But I think they'd probably also be friends because they both have good hearts. Anyway, I hope you liked it.**


	3. Gummi Ship To Radiant Garden

**AN: This is a short chapter, and I apologize in advance for that. **

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and Fullmetal Alchemist belong to their rightful owners, NOT ME!**

"WOULD YOU TWO BE QUIET!" Donald screamed as the gummi ship narrowly missed a large asteroid. If anything had been learnt since the group had left Destiny Islands, it was that Sora and Ed knew how to get on each other's nerves. Sora had been pestering the poor boy for explanation after explanation from the moment they'd left, and Ed had had enough. Before long their discussion had deteriorated into a rather distracting shouting match. Distracting enough that Donald had almost steered the ship into a giant space rock. Since no-one wanted to end up road kill, or space kill, or the focus of Donald Duck's wrath, the boys decided to drop the argument until they arrived at Radiant Garden, where the King could give a proper explanation.

But Sora was too tense to just sit still, he decided to try fishing for some different answers and leaned over to talk to Al. "So, uh, can you do that sparky thing too?"

Al turned away from the window that he'd been glued to the entire ride; he didn't seem to understand what Sora was talking about. "Sparky thing?" He looked at Ed for an answer.

The older brother thought for a moment and then seemed to realize what was going on, "Oh, I think he's talking about alchemy."

"Alchemy?" Sora looked between the two brothers.

"Wait I think I know about that!" Kairi chimed in, "It's that ancient magical science that can turn lead into gold right?"

"Well, I wouldn't describe quite like that," said Ed, "And where I come from turning lead into gold is actually illegal…among other things." Sora pondered what exactly he meant by the last statement.

"You mean that alchemy is a common thing on the world you come from?" Riku asked, he was suddenly very interested in the conversation.

"Yeah," replied Ed, "The only thing I've seen since leaving that even closely resembles it is what those moogles in Radiant Garden can do, what do you guys call it? Item synthesis?"

"So you can make items?" asked Sora.

"Not really," answered Al, "I mean, we could, maybe, if we tried, but we specialize in manipulating objects to change their shape and composition. Oh, and we have to always abide by the law of equivalent exchange!"

"What's that?" asked Sora

"Something that you won't be able to wrap your tiny mind around." Was Ed's response.

Sora felt the anger welling up again, "You think you're so smart!"

"I am smart, I'm a genius, it's in the definition." Ed leaned back and closed his eyes, he had a sly smile on face that was really pissing Sora off.

"Shorty!" Sora whispered. Ed immediately snapped back to attention.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLIN' A MOUSY LITTLE PIPSQUEAK?"

"SHUT UP!" Donald quacked as the ship banked sharply to the side to avoid some space junk. "I'M TRYING TO DRIVE!"

The kids got quiet, even Goofy wasn't saying anything. When he felt it was safe to breathe again, Sora decided to ask what had been nagging him for a while. "What exactly happened to your world?" though he felt like he already knew the answer.

The two brothers looked at each other; they didn't say anything for a couple of minutes. Finally Ed responded, but he didn't look at the group when he said it. "It…was destroyed." Sora looked down, he'd expected that.

Al continued the explanation, "According to your king, a world is destroyed when the keyhole to its heart is opened, allowing it to be consumed by darkness…by the heartless." Sora nodded to indicate that that was the truth. "But why, why would someone open the keyhole and put the world at risk like that?"

No-one answered, a million possibilities were flooding through Sora's mind, as well as memories of the day he'd fainted, the feeling that one of the stars was missing from the sky. _The missing star, that must've been their home_. Sora knew what it felt like to be ripped from your world, he felt bad for them.

It was Ed who broke the silence, "Anyway, we woke up in that Radiant Garden place and we received these weird key-weapon-things, and that mouse-king-guy said that he'd explain everything after-"

"THAT'S KING MICKEY TO YOU!" This time Donald had turned around to scream right into the back seat of the ship. He wasn't looking where he was going, and wasn't paying attention to where he was steering. The ship suddenly lurched downwards which drew his attention back to the controls. He'd accidently sent the ship into a rapid descent. The good news was that they were at Radiant Garden, the bad news: they were about to crash into the castle at top speed in a rented gummi ship!

**AN: Sorry for the really short chapter, but it was just travel so I didn't want to drag it out. Hope you liked it.**


	4. Radiant Garden Crash and Burn

**AN: I just read the last chapter of Fullmetal Alchemist, and it was sooo great! I totally cried. I'm so glad to know how it ends, and yet, it's over! What am I supposed to do with my life now? Well, I guess I'll start by finishing this story. Roy makes his debut! I was originally only going to include a few FMA characters, but the cast keeps growing, and I keep coming up with slightly altered Kingdom Hearts inspired designs for them! I gotta try and draw them, and maybe post them on Deviant Art or something. Anyway, Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned KH and FMA, but alas, I do not.**

Roy Mustang had seen many strange things since leaving his world; magic, heartless and he'd met some strange people too. He'd been relatively open minded and accepting towards every new thing, but the concept of being able to travel through space in a brightly colored rocket was something he was having a hard time wrapping his mind around. So he wasn't surprised at the utter disbelief he felt when he saw said brightly colored rocket ship come hurtling out of the sky.

"What was that?" Roy turned to see the man he'd come to know as Leon walking towards him to get a better view of the cloud of smoke rising over the hills from where the ship had crashed. "Hmmm, don't tell me, they crashed the gummi ship?"

"Good guess," Mustang smirked, the name 'gummi' seemed rather ridiculous to him.

Leon sighed; "I guess we should go see if they're okay…" he started towards the crash site without waiting for a response, and Roy followed.

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"WHAT DID YOU DO TO IT?" Cid Highwind was on a warpath, it didn't usually take much to set the guy off, and if nothing else, the things he cared the most about were his gummi ships. So the fact that one of his prized ships was in a mangled mess on the floor of the crystal fissure was not sitting well with him. He'd come running to the crash site as soon as he saw the ship go down and had beaten all of the other townspeople, which meant there were no witnesses if he decided to kill them all.

"DAMMIT! THIS IS WHY I DIDN'T WANT TO LEND IT TO YOU!" he shouted. He took a deep breath to try and calm down. "Who was driving?"

Sora, Ed and Goofy all pointed at Donald almost simultaneously.

"Ah…Wah…HEY!" The duck tried to defend himself but it wasn't really working. "I-I wouldn't have crashed if you hadn't been making such a racket! It's your fault!" Cid turned his attention to the boys who both flinched under his gaze.

"Let it go Cid, we all know you'll have it fixed in a heartbeat anyway." Came a voice from behind them, Sora turned around, he recognized that voice…

"Yuffie!" The ninja girl waved to Sora in response and then looked at the Elric brothers.

"Well, I see you made it back alive after all, guess I lost that bet." She smiled.

"What bet?" Ed stared accusingly at Yuffie.

"Don't worry about it, it doesn't concern you." Yuffie smiled.

"Funny, 'cause it sounds like it does!" Ed glared at the girl but she ignored him and instead went to give Sora a hug.

"Long time, no see! How ya been?" she asked.

"Uh, good, I guess." Was Sora's response.

Yuffie's smile disappeared and she looked at him seriously, "You're worried about those heartless aren't you?" Sora nodded, "Yeah, it's troublesome that they're so much stronger than-"

"Wait, what was that?" Sora interrupted. "I thought they were stronger, but, I was really hoping I was just imagining things…"

Yuffie looked at him confused, and then looked at the Elrics and then at Donald and Goofy. "Didn't you explain?"

"Like I actually know what's going on." Was Ed's response.

Yuffie smirked, "Shortie." She mumbled under her breath.

"GAH, WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Ed screamed.

Sora and Yuffie started laughing together, "It's fun isn't it?" she asked.

"Hilarious!" Sora answered.

"ACK! GROW UP!" Ed fumed, but it only made the pair laugh more.

"Well, I guess we were worried for nothing," came a new voice from behind the group. Sora turned around, Leon was coming towards him with a man he didn't recognize. The stranger was tall with dark eyes and black hair. He wore a short blue jacket over his clothes that had some badges and tassels on it like a military coat. He wore white gloves with the same type of circle diagrams that were on the Elrics' keyblades. _Must be a friend of theirs_ Sora thought.

Leon examined the Elric brothers, "Yuffie, you owe me 500 munny." He said calmly. Yuffie mumbled something under her breath about hoping he'd forget.

Leon looked at Sora, he looked tired, like he hadn't had a good night's sleep in a while. Sora swallowed hard, exactly what were they getting into.

Leon gestured for the group to follow him. Everyone complied except for Cid who was still mourning over his poor gummi ship.

"Let's go," said Leon, "the King's waiting."

**AN: Dang, another short chapter. Sorry, they'll get longer as the story picks up. Also, don't be shy, leave reviews! I want to know what you all think. What's good, what's bad, what needs to be changed, any suggestions are welcome. Hope you liked it!**


	5. Radiant Garden To the Castle

**AN: Finally a longer chapter, and more FMA characters! Also, I know I originally spelt it 'Aeris' but since 'Aerith' is the spelling used in KH, it's the one I'm going to go with. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or KH **

**

* * *

**

The Castle looked more or less the way Sora remembered it; big, awkward, and incredibly intimidating. But as they approached it, Sora could see that it was a little more banged up than it had been the last time he'd seen it. _Come to think of it, the whole town's pretty banged up_ he thought. He couldn't get his mind off of what Yuffie had said about these new heartless being stronger, it was like she'd confirmed his worst fears. As they entered the castle, the group stopped short and stared down the long dark hallway.

"Oh! Not again!" whined Yuffie. She pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number. She turned towards her companions, "Sorry 'bout this, the electrical grid's a mess, the power's been goin' out all over the place!" She explained as she waited for the call to connect. Finally it went through, "Hey! It's me, the lights are out again, can you come get us? And bring a flashlight!" Yuffie hung up the phone. "They're gonna come and get us!"

"Okay…" Sora said absentmindedly. Since they had to wait anyway, he figured he'd might as well see if he could get an explanation. "Yuffie, you said something about the new heartless being stronger than before. What did you mean by that?"

Yuffie stared at Sora and then turned to Leon. "You wanna explain?"

Leon sighed, "She meant what she said. We don't know why, but they're stronger and faster than they used to be. That's the reason we brought you here, we're going to need everyone's help to deal with them." He paused to think. "They also seem to be more organized than they were in the past." He was eyeing the Elrics and their friend. "And they first appeared right after these guys showed up in Radiant Garden." He sounded suspicious when he said that last piece.

The black haired man turned to Leon. "I swear, We don't know anything about them."

Leon sighed again, "Yeah, I know." He turned to Sora, "That's about all we know. We've been searching Ansem's computer for information, because if any exists, that's where it would be. But we haven't had any luck, yet." He rubbed his forehead. "Anyway, we can finish this conversation later, when we know more, and besides, our escort's here."

Sora looked up to see a light at the end of the hallway, and a silhouetted figure that he began to recognize as it approached. "Aerith!" Sora shouted in greeting to his old friend.

The young woman smiled, she wasn't alone though, a little girl with braided hair who wore a blue jumper over a pink sweatshirt and a backpack shaped like a white dog came running from behind Aerith and jumped on Al. "Big brothers! You're back!"

"Hey Nina! Have you been a good girl?" Al smiled. Ed bent down to give her a hug too.

"Uh huh! I've been playing with Stitch!" The little blue alien came scurrying out of the shadows as if summoned by the girl's words. It poked Al until he pat it on the head. Then it jumped on Ed's back and refused to get off no matter how much the boy struggled.

Aerith turned towards Leon and the black haired man who had yet to introduce himself to Sora.

"I'm Sorry," Aerith apologized, "We didn't even realize the lights had gone out."

"So then the computer's okay?" Said Leon.

Aerith nodded, "Those rooms must have a backup generator of some sort, the power in there never goes out." She then pulled out an old fashioned lantern, and handed it to the black haired man. "With a large group, two lights would be better than one, but I couldn't find another flashlight, only this."

"Not a problem." Said the man, he held out one of his gloved hands and snapped his fingers. Sora jumped back in shock as a spark flew into the lantern and then a flame appeared. Aerith handed him the light. "Thank you, Roy, that alchemy of yours sure is useful." He smiled smugly, _so that's alchemy too_ Sora thought. Then he smirked _Kind of like that hothead Axel…I wonder who would've won in a fight…_he thought.

"Come." Said Leon, taking Aerith's flashlight and leading the way. Even with the lights they had to be careful because of the construction debris in the hallways, so it took a little longer than it should have, and it certainly didn't help that the castle was designed like a maze. But when they finally reached their destination, the group put out the lights and entered Ansem's well lit office. Tifa was standing there along with a woman whose blond hair was pulled back with a clip and who wore a vest that matched the jacket worn by Roy, and was carrying a pair of handguns. The women had been talking about something, but when the group entered they stopped and turned to greet them.

"Good to see you again Sora!" said Tifa.

"You too, any news from Cloud?" Sora asked, Tifa's smile faded a little. Nobody had seen the man since he'd disappeared along with Sephiroth during their battle. _That was probably a stupid question_ Sora thought.

The blond woman stepped forward, attempting to break the awkward silence, she introduced herself. "I am Riza Hawkeye; it's nice to meet the keyblade master." She said shaking Sora's hand very formally, "And his friends." She turned to exchange handshakes with Riku and Kairi.

Nina stepped in front of Sora and looked him up and down, "He doesn't look very hero like." She said.

"Nina! That's rude!" Al scolded.

"But she's right!" Ed mocked.

"What's with you people?" Sora shouted.

Another argument may have broken out, but Leon stepped in the middle of the group, he handed Tifa the flashlight. "Would you mind going to see what's wrong with the power grid?"

"No, of course not." Tifa took the flashlight and left the room.

Leon turned towards the group, "c'mon, the King's with the computer."

* * *

Of everything that Sora had seen in Radiant Garden since his crash landing less than an hour before, the computer room was in the best shape, well, considering that it wasn't really in great shape before the whole mess began anyway. At least it didn't look any worse. The machine seemed to be working, King Mickey stood at the monitor, hitting buttons and pressing keys. He was so focused on what he was doing that he didn't notice the group walk in. Riku went over and tapped him on the shoulder and Sora could have sworn that the king jumped several feet into the air from shock.

"Riku!" The King exclaimed as he hugged his good friend, "It's good to see you." He turned to the rest of the heroes who bowed in respect, except for Ed who had to be pulled into a bow by his brother.

Mickey's smile disappeared, "Now's not the time for formalities. Have you been informed of the situation?"

Sora nodded, "Kind of…"

"Well, I've got good news and bad news, look at this." He turned back to the computer monitor, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, Leon and Aerith stepped closer for a better look. Yuffie stood in the corner admiring her shuriken, while the Elrics and their friends stood in the back of the room, gawking at the equipment.

"It's like they've never seen a computer before." Observed Sora.

"They haven't," replied Leon, Sora gawked in disbelief, "Things like this didn't exist in their world."

"What kind of backwater world did they come from?" Sora asked.

"You're not really one to talk." Aerith pointed out, Sora frowned.

"Back on topic," said Riku bringing them back to attention, "why does the computer keep saying access denied?"

"I'm not sure," said the King, "I tried doing some searches based on what we know about these heartless, and there appears to be information, that's the good news, but it won't let me access it."

"So I'm guessing that's the bad news." Said Kairi.

"Lemme see," said Sora, as he shoved in front of the keyboard. He started to hit some buttons, and then leaned forward towards the screen, "Hey Tron! You there?"

"Sora? Is that you?" Came a computerized voice from the machine.

"Yup, it's me! Listen, we need the information in these files, but can't get through, why?" There were a few moments of silence on the other end, then Tron responded.

"It seems that the information is heavily guarded behind multiple firewalls and other defenses, I can't get to it either."

"Ansem must have wanted to make sure it stayed a secret," Mickey mumbled.

"So, what do we do?" Asked Leon, "If Tron can't get to it, how will we?"

"I have an idea!" said Sora, "What if we go in and try to get it?" Everyone just stared at him. "No I'm serious, I've gone in before, we can probably bust through the security with enough force or shut it down, or something, ya' know what I mean?"

"I think it might work." Said Tron from the computer.

Leon pondered the idea for a few moments. "Okay, but only a few of you. We don't want to fry the system, and we need people to protect this room, because if the heartless trash the computer while you're in it, well, that would be bad. Who will you take?"

"I would like to come." Riku said, giving no room for argument. Sora looked around the room. Donald and Goofy were fine choices, but this was a delicate operation, and there was a chance they might mess something up. And he didn't want to drag Kairi into more danger, especially since he didn't really know what he was up against. Then Sora caught Ed's eye and a sly smile spread across his face. Ed noticed Sora's weird look and his face grew concerned.

"I got an idea." Said Sora as he walked up to Ed. "Why don't you come?"

"Come where?" Asked Ed, he clearly hadn't been listening.

"You'll see." Sora answered. He grabbed the boy's arm and dragged his over to the scanner, Riku followed.

"Ooooh! Are you gonna go into the computer?" Asked Yuffie, suddenly interested. "I've always wanted to see how this works!"

"Wait, What?" Ed asked, nervously. Al suddenly seemed concerned as well and was turning to Aerith for an explanation.

"Be careful." Said Kairi, Sora nodded and gave her a thumbs-up for assurance.

"All ready." Said Leon. "You set?"

"Ready on this end!" Reported Tron.

Sora nodded. Yuffie jumped with excitement, "Beam 'em up Squally!" She exclaimed.

* * *

**AN: This chapter is brought to you by bad Star Trek jokes. I told myself I wasn't going to use that line, but then my friend talked me into it. I was originally going to have Sora say it, but it sounded more natural coming from Yuffie, as she's the only one who calls Leon 'Squall'. And I wasn't going to originally include Nina, but like I said, if Aerith can live! And she's friends with Stitch 'cause I thought that'd be cute, since Alexander isn't there and neither is Lilo, it just seemed like they'd get along well. Anyway, I hope you liked it!**


	6. Space Paranoids Into the Computer

**AN: I'm sorry about the wait. I've been super unmotivated lately, just started a summer class and asked a friend to help me review the chapters before I post them.**

**Yay! First Disney world! I never really understood how Space Paranoids existed or how things worked compared to the rest of the worlds, since it's inside of a computer. So a lot of the "explanations" are based on my interpretations of the world, and my limited understanding of computers. I hope it makes sense. And I'm trying to keep the actual party size small 'cause it's hard to keep track of a lot of people. Anyway, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. Never have, Never will. **

"Ugh…What the hell just happened?" whined Edward as he pulled himself to his feet.

"What's the matter? Tired already?" Sora wasn't really one to talk though; the first time he'd entered the computer world he'd felt like someone had smacked him over the head with a brick or something. Then again, he'd been sucked in against his will. It certainly wasn't the most comfortable sensation on the planet. But he wasn't about to admit any of that to Edward.

Ed glared at him. "Where are we?" It sounded like more of a demand than a question.

"We're inside the computer," Sora answered. He gestured towards Ed who looked down and observed the glowing blue, digital armor he was wearing with wide eyes.

"Wha-What the hell!" he shouted. "You mean we're inside that machine?"

"Yup, there's a whole world inside here!" Sora explained.

"And it can be a dangerous one if you're not careful," came a voice from behind the terminal used to connect to the real world. Tron stepped into view holding a few wires in his hands. "Sora! It is good to see you again! How have you been?"

"Pretty good," he lied, "You?"

"I have been well." He examined Sora's new companions. "What happened to Donald and Goofy?" he asked.

"They stayed with the King for now, this is my friend Riku, and uh, Ed, right?" Sora turned towards Ed as he asked the question.

Ed fumed, "You forgot my name already? You idiot!"

"Hey! I've only known you for, like, 2 hours!" Sora fumed back.

"Enough!" exclaimed Riku as he stepped between the two of them. There was enough authority in his voice to quiet them down. He took the chance to talk to Tron. "We really need to access that information we asked about."

Tron's smile faded. "Yes, the information. There is one thing you might want to know first." He held up the wires he was holding. They'd obviously been pulled from the back of the terminal. "It seems that trying to access the data 'woke up' the security program, it has placed the entire system into a state of lock – down."

"Which means?" asked Ed.

Tron looked grim. "I managed to get you in here by tampering with the system." He tossed the wires on the floor. "But until we shut down the program, you will not be able to leave."

"YOU MEAN WE'RE STUCK HERE?" Ed shouted.

"Um, yes, you know, you are rather loud for your size." Tron said. Sora snickered.

"ARE YOU CALLIN' ME SHORT? YOU DATA FREAK?" Ed fumed.

"Please, stop shouting, you will attract them," pleaded Tron.

"Attract who?" Sora asked, but his question was answered as a number of robotic creatures appeared in the area they were standing in. "H-heartless?" Sora observed in disbelief.

"No, not really," answered Tron. "They were created by the security program to defend the data from hackers and threats, it is simply tapping into the data left behind by the heartless' infection of the system. They only resemble the heartless…and have their attacks."

"So the program thinks that we're a threat?" asked Riku. Tron nodded.

"And to get out we have to destroy it," Ed said.

"If they're not really heartless, then this shouldn't be too hard." Sora summoned his keyblade and ran towards the nearest fake, which resembled a magnum loader heartless. Sora swung his keyblade but the creature easily dodged the attack and attacked Sora from behind, sending him flying into a nearby wall.

"Owww…" he groaned as he stood up.

"Sora! Are you okay?" Riku asked as he and Tron ran to his side to help.

"If it were that easy, I would have been able to do away with it myself," Tron explained. "This program is protecting information that was clearly very important."

"Or very dangerous," corrected Riku.

"Wait!" interrupted Sora. "Aren't you a security program too? Can't you, I dunno, tell it to stop? Or something?" he asked Tron.

"I was created to keep the system running smoothly. This program was created to protect information." Tron explained, "We have different purposes and were programmed differently. So I cannot communicate with it, and I am not strong enough to terminate it alone."

"Right, that's why _we're_ here…" mumbled Sora

"Where's Ed?" he asked, observing that the boy wasn't standing with them.

"He was right over…there…" Sora's words trailed off as he realized that the blond boy was nowhere to be seen. "Uh-oh…"

The fake heartless swerved around until they were in a line formation and then they ran at the group. Sora dodge rolled and swung his keyblade at one of them, hitting it from behind. The weapon hit with a loud cracking sound and the creature fell over and struggled to get back up. When it did, Sora could see that its side was damaged where it had been hit. He ran towards it again, using the same strategy, he dodge rolled to avoid the first attack and then swung at it, aiming for the same spot. He hit his target head on and the creature exploded into a cloud of data that quickly vanished.

Sora turned to see Riku finish off another fake and turn to deal with a third. Tron was throwing his disk weapon which was proving useful in landing multiple attacks, but didn't seem to have enough strength to kill the creatures. Sora ran over to help and swung his keyblade in a wide arc. He managed to take out two creatures at once, as they'd already been damaged by Tron, and then spun around to swing at another. He hit it with the keyblade at the same time as Tron's disc and the combined force of the two attacks was enough to destroy it. Sora turned around to see if there were any more, but they were all gone. Riku walked over to join them and Sora dismissed his keyblade.

Sora looked around, "Looks like we lost shortie…" He waited, hoping to hear a response to the short remark, but when he heard nothing, it only confirmed that they'd actually lost him.

"I'm sure he can take care of himself," said Riku.

"Yeah right, he doesn't even know what a computer is!" exclaimed Sora. "Where did he go anyway?"

"I may know," said Tron, who had gone to examine a dark shadow in the floor on the other side of the room. Sora walked over and looked down only to see that the shadow wasn't a shadow, but a hole in the ground. "I ran into a few of these on my way over. I believe that they are corruptions in the system being caused by the security program tapping into the old heartless data."

Sora looked down the hole; it was pitch black and he couldn't see. "You think Ed was dumb enough to fall down there?"

"Doubt it," replied Riku.

"It has nothing to do with intelligence," said Tron. "They have been opening up randomly all over the place, and are not easy to see."

"I guess we should go help him…" Sora said.

"Where does it lead?" Riku asked Tron.

Tron shook his head. "I cannot say. They are basically holes in the data, it could lead anywhere."

"One way to find out," said Sora, and he dove in head first.

**ooooooooooooo**

Ed was standing in a large open space. He wasn't really sure what had just happened. He'd been with Sora, Riku and that computer guy as some Heartless-like creatures attacked. Then a weird hole had suddenly opened in the floor beneath his feet and he'd fallen through into this place. He looked around. He could see walls rising in the distance in all directions, and there didn't seem to be anyone or anything else other than him.

"Sora? Riku? Computer guy?" No response. "Al? Leon?" Still nothing. "…Colonel Bastard?" He figured it was worth a try, but there was still no response. He looked at his surroundings. There had to be an exit somewhere and there didn't seem to be anything there to stop him.

"Too easy," he said to no-one in particular. He took one cautionary step, unsure of what would happen, but expecting some sort of trap. Suddenly a wall rose quickly out of the ground to his right. He jumped back and almost collided with another wall that rose on his left. He could hear numerous walls rising out of the ground all around him, filling the space. "What the hell?" He gawked at the radically altered space.

A glowing light next to him caught his attention and he looked down to see a cloud of numbers and symbols solidify into a glowing bike like vehicle. He'd seen a similar one in Radiant Garden; they'd called it a motorcycle. Was he supposed to ride this?

An echoing mechanical voice answered his thoughts. "Welcome to the game grid. Mount your light cycle."

"Light cycle?" He looked at the bike. _Guess that's what it's called_.

"Mount your light cycle," the voice repeated.

"Okay, okay." Ed sat on the bike. He didn't really know how to ride one of these things, but how hard could it be?

"Get ready," the voice stated.

"Ready for what?" Ed questioned. "Wait, game grid…is this a race or something?"

"Set," said the voice.

"Wait, what do I do? I don't know how to drive this thing?"

"Go."

A green light flashed, and Ed didn't have time to think. He hit the gas and the bike took off.

**AN: I didn't want space paranoids to be the first world, but chronologically it made the most sense.**

**I actually really liked playing this world in the games (though the cool cyber armor probably had something to do with it…) I hope I can do it justice.**

**Useless fact: Tron was one of the first movies to use extensive computer animation, but there was actually only about twenty minutes of it. The sequel/remake looks cool though. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	7. Space Paranoids On The Light Cycle

**AN: I wrote this chapter right after I read the last chapter of Fullmetal Alchemist. Still in Space Paranoids, but I think I'll try to finish this world in the next chapter. Some quick answers to people's questions: Hughes **_**will**_** be appearing in this story and I don't think I can include Axel because all the members of Organizations 13 were "dead" at the end of KH2 but maybe I can make use of those hologram things you could fight in Final Mix to work in some sort of Roy vs. Axel battle, 'cause I kind of like that idea. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and Fullmetal Alchemist do not belong to me.**

"GYAAAAH! Dammit, How the hell do you drive this thing!" Ed took back everything he said about riding the motorcycle thing not being hard. He felt like a pinball as the light cycle swerved through the labyrinth and bounced off the walls as he desperately attempted to stay on.

"Grah! C'mon, it's like riding a bike! I can do that!" He tightened his grip on the handlebars and swerved the bike into the center of the narrow hallway. He kept his arms as steady as possible and the cycle's movements evened out. "Alright! I got it!"

But Ed spoke too soon. Suddenly a wall shot up out of the floor in front of him. "Oh crap!" He exclaimed and jerked the handle bars to the right, sending the cycle into a sharp right turn that bounced him off the opposite wall and almost took his leg off in the process. "You gotta be kidding me! Any more surprises?"

He suddenly noticed a dark shape hovering next to his head and turned to see a heartless, or rather a heartless imitation, floating alongside him. "Oh come on! It was a rhetorical question!" He removed his right hand from the handlebars, but didn't move it too far in case he needed to grab on again. When the bike didn't swerve, or send him flying to his death, he decided it was safe to turn his attention to the heartless.

He summoned his keyblade and swung at the creature. There was a flash of light and the weapon bounced harmlessly off, with enough force to almost throw Ed off his balance. When he regained control of the bike, Ed took the chance to examine the heartless. It didn't seem to be paying a lot of attention to him, until it suddenly attempted to shove him into the wall. He swerved out of the way; he looked forward and realized that another wall had risen out of the ground to block his path. He turned the bike around the corner, and had to duck to prevent getting decapitated by the heartless. _So they're trying to run me into the walls_ he thought. He picked his keyblade back up and stared at his target. _It put up some sort of shield, maybe I just need to attack with more force_.

He revved up the engine on the bike and felt the speed building. Unfortunately the heartless also sped up, but losing it wasn't his intention. When he felt he had enough speed, he jerked the bike towards the heartless and swung at it with all his strength. The additional momentum was enough to break the shield and the heartless exploded into a cloud of numbers. "Alright!"

Ed used the same strategy to deal with the rest of the maze. If a heartless showed up, he would charge up the light cycle and use the extra force to break its shield. He missed a few times, but it was mostly successful. He hadn't crashed yet, but he was still trapped in a maze in what was probably the worst game ever invented.

_C'mon there's gotta be a way outta here somewhere!_ he thought. Suddenly he caught a glimpse of one of the walls that had surrounded the area before the maze had popped up. There was a dark, jagged line running through it. _A crack? That's my way out!_

He nearly missed colliding with another wall and turned the bike towards the exit. A few weak heartless and a few more obstacles later, and he was on a straight path for the exit. _Almost there! C'mon!_ A large heartless popped up in his path, but he destroyed it with ease. The extra speed sent him flying towards the crack in the wall, which he could now see clearly. _Closer, closer, almost there! Finally!_ He went flying through the crack in the wall and entered a dark room. Before he could stop, he collided with the wall opposite the entrance.

"Oww!" he whined as he pulled himself up off the ground. He looked at the wrecked light cycle. The lights flickered then faded, and the bike vanished in a cloud of data. "Worst. Game. Ever!" He exclaimed, and then turned to leave the room.

"When I find that spiky haired freak I'm gonna kill him!" he fumed.

**

* * *

**"Hello? Edward?"

No answer.

Sora, Riku and Tron had wound up in the Dataspace, and Ed obviously had not, as there was no sign of him, and there really wasn't anywhere to hide in the room.

Tron looked grim. "Perhaps the corruption brought him to a different location. Should we look elsewhere?"

"Not now," Said Riku, who was eyeing the terminal in the room, "Can you use this to access the information we need?"

"No." Tron shook his head. "The Security program shut it down, we are going to have to go to the location where the data is being stored, and access it directly, once we destroy the program, of course."

"So, where's it being kept?" Sora asked.

"The Central Computer Core." Torn answered.

Sora looked at him. "Isn't that where we fought the MCP?"

Tron nodded, "Yes, but I do not think that there is any connection, aside from the fact that that part of the system has very high defenses."

"All the more reason to think that the information is dangerous…" Riku said.

Sora stared at his friend. He had the strangest feeling that Riku knew something he wasn't telling, and it was bothering him. "Riku?" he asked cautiously.

Riku looked at him, Sora decided to continue, "Do you know something you're not telling us?"

Riku sighed, "I guess I should probably tell you."

Sora nodded and waited patiently while Riku got his thoughts together.

"Ansem…rambles sometimes…" Sora didn't see how this was connected, but he let his friend continue. "When I was working with him, he mentioned something about a strange world he visited. He said they had a weird power there that could change the shape of objects. He said it resembled item synthesis."

"Alchemy…" Sora breathed, "He went to their world!"

Riku nodded, "He said, the power was fueled by a sort of 'energy', one that surrounded the entire world and flowed through everything within it…and…he wondered what would happen if the heartless got a hold of that 'energy'."

Sora was silent for a moment, then spoke, "You think the heartless absorbed that power when they destroyed Ed's world?"

Riku closed his eyes to think. "I don't know, it didn't make much sense at the time, so I didn't ask Ansem for an explanation, now I kind of wish I did." He chuckled a little. "But I think that that is the most logical theory at the time being. Though not an entirely comforting thought…"

"But, the heartless aren't performing alchemy! They're just…strong…and those…marks…mmm…" Sora was starting to get uneasy as he realized that Riku's logic made sense. The marks on the heartless, the ones that seemed to be the source of their new power, were the same as the ones on the Elric's keyblades, and on Roy's gloves. From what Sora could tell, they were related to alchemy, and the world it came from.

"Now do you see why we need that information so badly? Obviously there are things we don't know, but hopefully Ansem's research will answer our questions." Riku explained. "Obviously the king and Leon have come to a similar conclusion. I'm not saying that Ed and his friends are responsible, 'cause they're probably not, but there is definitely a connection."

Sora nodded. "But what about Ed? Can we really just leave him? What if something happens?"

"Excuse me! I can take care of myself!"

Sora spun around to find himself face to face with an exhausted, and apparently infuriated, Edward Elric. And yet, he couldn't help feeling relieved.

"Ed! You're okay!" Sora shouted.

"Of course I'm okay, what did you think was gonna happen?" Ed shouted back.

"Are you unharmed?" asked Tron.

"More or less. Oh, but I hope you didn't need that Light Cycle thing for anything."

Ed stretched his shoulders and then turned to Riku. "Anyway, I overheard that you support that Leon guy's theory that these new, stronger, heartless are somehow connected to the destruction of my world? And by the way, those 'marks' are called transmutation circles."

"Transmuwhats?" Sora asked, but he was ignored.

Riku nodded. Ed mumbled something about a gate that Sora didn't understand. Then the room got silent.

Ed was the one who broke the silence. "If alchemy's responsible for all the pain these things are causing, then, as an alchemist, I must take responsibility and fix the problem." He looked up, his eyes burned with determination and his face was dead serious. Sora was at a loss for words.

Then Ed smiled. "Plus, I still want revenge on them for trashing my home."

Sora grinned. "Then what are we doing here? Let's get over to the Central Computer Core!"

**AN: Thank you to the Kingdom Hearts Wiki for giving me an outline of the Light Cycle mini game. I couldn't remember how it worked and my PS2's disconnected so I couldn't check myself. But when I spontaneously thought of putting Ed on a Light Cycle, I just couldn't get rid of the idea.**

**And we finally got some explanations, the rest will come in the next chapter or so, and then we get off to the rest of the Disney worlds! (Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be a really long fic…?) Hope you liked it!**


	8. Space Paranoids The Hostile Program

**AN: Late chapter is Late, and I apologize profusely for that... Longest chapter yet! We finally finish up Space Paranoids. This took forever to write 'cause I had no idea what I wanted to happen! XP Anyway, Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, just write ridiculous stories about 'em. **

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Al stared at the computer monitor. The screen had gone dark right after his brother, Sora and Riku had entered, and they'd lost contact immediately. Leon and the King had been trying to fix the problem for a while now, but at this point they seemed more like they were pressing buttons aimlessly, hoping for some sort of response.

Al looked around the room. Kairi was the only other person there, everyone else had left a little while ago. Mustang and Hawkeye were searching the office for a computer manual, not that they actually knew what that was. But Al couldn't leave until he knew his brother was okay, and apparently Kairi wasn't going to leave without her friends either.

"Dammit!" Leon swore in frustration and hit the keyboard hard.

"Careful Leon!" King Mickey said, "You don't want to break it."

Al sighed, he didn't know anything about computers, but he figured that losing access to one while your friends were inside was probably a really bad thing. He felt so useless, not being able to help, all he could do right now was help defend it if the heartless attacked.

Al suddenly heard footprints and turned towards the entrance to see the newcomer, "Where is he?" a young blond girl came storming into the computer room. She wore a black skirt and jacket with a white top and her hair was pulled up into a high ponytail, she had a pair of goggles around her neck. Her blue eyes scanned the room, taking in its occupants and noting the absence of the one she was looking for.

Al half smiled, "Hey Winry, Ed's not here right now."

Winry turned towards the younger Elric, "Well, where is he? Cid came storming through the workshop mumbling about his busted ship and he said you guys were back so I came looking for you."

"Right…the ship…" Al scratched the back of his head and avoided eye contact. Winry had proved her worth working as Cid's assistant and helping him build and care for the ships; she was completely fascinated by the contraptions. And now she was probably going to have to work all night to help him fix it.

"Yeah, you trashed it, I know, I'll beat you all up later for that. Seriously though, where's your brother?" She asked.

"Well, um…" Al pointed at the computer, Leon and Mickey nodded in greeting, then went back to what they were doing.

Winry looked confused, understandably, she turned back to Al, "I was asking for Ed, not some machine."

Kairi took this chance to enter the conversation, "Um, he's inside."

Winry looked at her, "Inside?"

Kairi nodded, "There's a whole world in there, they went in to try and find some information, but, we lost contact." Kairi's words trailed off at the end.

Winry stared at the computer; Kairi couldn't tell how much she actually understood.

Winry turned back to Kairi and raised an eyebrow, "I'm sorry…who are you?"

"Oh, um, I'm Kairi." She shook Winry's hand as she said it.

"Oh, you're that boy's friend! Uh…what's his name…Sara?"

"Sora!" Corrected Kairi with a chuckle, "And don't let him hear you say that."

"Noted." Said Winry, Then she turned to the computer, "So, they're inside?"

Kairi nodded, "Yeah, both of them, and Riku too."

Winry looked at Leon, "Is there any way I can help?"

Leon shook his head, "Thanks for the offer, but I don't think so."

Winry looked like she was about to say something, but didn't get the chance. A loud crashing sound cut her off.

"What was that?" Asked Al.

"Oh no," Leon got up and charged out of the room. He arrived in Ansem's office in time to see Mustang snap his fingers and scorch a large heartless. It didn't die, but it staggered around the room as dark energy dissipated from its many wounds. Kairi and Al came in behind Leon, summoned their keyblades and finished it off.

"How did that get in here?" Asked a frantic Kairi.

Hawkeye went to check the hall outside the office, it was still pitch black, the power wasn't back on yet.

Leon observed the dark hallway, "The security system must be down." He said.

"Look out!" Al shouted, he ran towards Hawkeye and pushed her out of the way as a heartless leapt out of the shadows. He hit it in the side with his keyblade and sent it tumbling into the far wall.

"What do we do?" Asked Winry.

"We have to protect the computer until they get back." Responded Kairi.

"You can hide in the back if you want." Said Leon, pulling out his gunblade and preparing for battle.

"No!" Winry shouted loud enough to get everyone's attention, "I'm not hiding, I can help too!" To emphasize her statement, she pulled out an oversized wrench and swung it at a heartless that had jumped right over Al to get into the room. It didn't do much damage, but it did seem to confuse the thing. Kairi took the chance to hit it with her keyblade.

"All right then." Said Leon, "Welcome to the battle."

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Ed had finally found one thing that he enjoyed about the computer world. He didn't know exactly what it was, but he found something very calming about the Solar Sailor Simulation, which was odd considering how many heartless were popping up on the deck. Ed swung his keyblade and sent one flying overboard. He sensed movement behind him and turned around to strike at another one, but almost hit Sora in the head instead.

"Hey! Watch it!" the keybearer shouted.

"Sorry," said Ed, "didn't see you there."

"Clearly," mumbled Sora as he dismissed his keyblade. "That looks like the last of them for now. Hey Tron! How much longer?" He shouted towards the front of the odd ship.

Tron was at the controls and he answered without turning around, "We are almost there."

"Okay." Said Sora as he slid into a sitting position. Ed sat down next to him, Riku was standing towards the back of the ship looking out at the odd view that the simulation provided.

Sora turned towards Ed, who hadn't dismissed his keyblade but was instead looking at it like it was something completely foreign.

"How'd you get that anyway?" Sora asked.

Ed looked at him, "Well, when the heartless attacked our world I didn't know what they were, I tried to defend my home, and I guess I just summoned it without intending to."

Sora chuckled, "Sounds about right." He remembered the time that he'd received his keyblade, he'd almost been pummeled by heartless, lost Kairi and his home, and watched Riku get swallowed by a cloud of darkness. It all seemed so long ago now. He'd gotten so used to fighting for the light, that he'd forgotten how foreign it had all seemed at first. "They only come to people with strong hearts, it's kind of like a compliment, I guess."

Ed nodded, "And Al got one too." He continued. "When we first saw those heartless, we thought they were chimeras or something."

"Chimeras?" Asked Sora.

"Uh, don't worry about it." Ed said. He dismissed his keyblade. And leaned back against the edge of the ship.

"What's the law of equivalent exchange?" asked Sora.

"Hm?" Ed stared at him confused.

"Um, you brought it up before, or maybe it was Al, when I asked about it, you called me dumb." Sora explained.

Ed stared upwards, trying to remember exactly what Sora was talking about. "Oh, right. It's a law that governs my world. It basically means that everything must be balanced. In order to gain something, something of equal value must be lost. It's the founding principle of alchemy."

"Weird…" said Sora, he was desperately trying to remember what he'd learned in chemistry class about balancing equations, he thought it might help him understand what Ed was talking about. But a different idea came to mind instead. "Kind of like how the darkness and the light can't exist without each other, and should always be balanced."

"Uh, yeah, I guess." Ed looked like he was having trouble making the connection.

Sora looked down at the deck of the ship. "I'm sorry about your world."

Ed looked at him surprised, and then turned away as his face sank into a solemn look. "Don't be. Leon told me about you, how you lost your world a few years ago, and had to go on a whole journey by yourself to get it back. And about your friends…" Ed was staring at Riku across the deck, wondering if he was listening at all.

"I wasn't alone." Corrected Sora, "I had Donald and Goofy with me."

"Right." Ed smiled, "But you still had to leave the girl you loved behind-"

"Ack What?" Sora interrupted, "L-love, what are you talking about?"

Ed blinked and stared at him with a confused look, "That Kairi girl, Leon said-"

"AH! Don't listen to Leon! What does he know! We're just friends, good childhood friends!"

Ed was smirking, he wasn't very convinced. If anything, Sora's little rant had only confirmed what Leon had said. _I think he's protesting too much…_ he thought.

"Why doesn't Leon know anything?" Asked Riku, who had come over from the other side of the deck to see what all the yelling was about.

"Oh, Sora just thinks that Leon made up what he told me about him and Kairi." Said Ed with a smile.

"Well, he did!" shouted Sora, "There's nothing going on between me and Kairi."

Riku looked at Sora and then turned back to Ed, "No, Leon's got it right." He said with a smirk, "They even have this adorable drawing in the cave back-"

"GYAH! Riku stop talking!" Sora shouted, desperately trying to interrupt Riku before he had a chance to finish that story.

"If I may interrupt," Ventured Tron who had come over to where the boys were sitting. They'd been too wrapped up in their conversation to realize that the ship had stopped. "We have arrived."

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Sora had expected the Central Computer Mesa and the Core to be overrun with Heartless imitations, so the fact that the place was completely and utterly barren, was not sitting well with the boy.

Luckily he wasn't the only one feeling uneasy, Ed stepped forward, keyblade in hand, and looked around, "Okay, where's the welcoming committee?" he asked.

"Perhaps the program is afraid that if it loses control of the imitations, they will damage the data," Tron explained, "so it is keeping them away from it…maybe…"

"Maybe?" Ed asked.

"I am afraid that I really do not have an answer for this." Tron looked concerned.

Sora looked forward, he could see the Computer Core; it wasn't that far. _That's where we need to be…_ He looked around him one more time and gripped his keyblade tighter as he took a cautious step forward. When nothing happened he took another step and then began to walk up the path towards the core. The group followed him, looking warily in all directions, but nothing happened. When they reached the entrance to the core, Sora turned around and looked back.

"That was almost too easy…" observed Riku.

"Yeah…" agreed Sora, he turned towards the entrance to the core. "We're probably gonna have to fight, you guys ready?"

"I'm ready to get out of here!" shouted Ed. And he stormed into the computer core.

Sora and the others followed, expecting something to drop out of the sky and attack them, but nothing happened. The Computer Core, which had once been the home of the MCP, was a large round space with a hole in the center of the floor. Where the MCP had once sat, there was now a large glowing column of light and numbers, and at the center of it, was a glowing mass.

"That is the data." Said Tron, pointing to the glowing shape.

"Then what're we waiting for?" shouted Ed as he ran towards the glowing column. To no-one's surprise, there was a flash when he tried to touch the column and he was thrown across the room.

"And that is the security program…" explained Tron.

"Please enter the password." Came a robotic female voice.

The group stared at the column of light, Sora turned towards Tron, "What do we do?"

"I guess we need a password…" explained Tron.

"Um…" Sora thought, remembering the last password that they had collected for the computer. "Uh, Door To Darkness?"

"Incorrect Password."

"Uh, The Seven Princesses of heart?" Sora started to panic as an alarm began to sound.

"Incorrect Password, threat detected, terminating threat."

There was a crashing sound and a giant creature appeared out of a cloud of data. It resembled the Hostile Program that had been summoned by the MCP the last time Sora had been here. Could it really be another one?

"A Heartless?" Asked Ed, as he backed away from the creature.

"No! A computer Virus!" Explained Sora.

"Okay, that's bad right?" Asked Ed, he really didn't know anything about computers.

"Well, don't let it derezz you!" Sora shouted as he dodged an attack.

The program made some strange computerized noise and then suddenly released huge red lasers that slashed across the room.

"Dammit! What do we do?" Shouted Ed as he attempted to outrun a laser. He failed to be faster than it, but it just skimmed harmlessly over his head. He ducked into a roll to doge another attack and wound up cornered against a wall.

Riku leapt into the air while the program was focused on Ed, he struck it from behind, but the attack bounced off harmlessly. "What is it? Invincible?" he shouted in shock and frustration.

"Input Password." Came the computerized voice from before.

Sora looked up at the glowing column; maybe they could avoid this fight if they could think of the password, but what? "Um, Ansem the Wise?" Sora Ventured.

"Incorrect Password." The Hostile Program let out another barrage of lasers. Tron threw his disk in the air and it struck the creature across its face, but it did nothing.

"Uh…Ansem's really great?" Sora tried.

"Incorrect Password." More Lasers.

"Dammit Sora! Be serious!" Shouted Ed as he leapt into the Air and attempted to strike the program's torso, it swung around its huge arms and struck Ed right in the stomach, sending him flying across the room.

"C'mon, Think…" Sora said to himself. _Maybe it has something to do with their world? Yeah, Ansem went there and all so maybe…_ "Uh…Alchemy?"

"Incorrect Password."

"Oh Come On!" Sora shouted as he dodged an attack and swung at the creature's arm with his keyblade. "Is there even a right password.?"

"Input Password."

"Ugh!" Sora thought it over, what else could it be, there were too many possibilities and not enough time. _Ansem would have picked something hard, something nobody could think of…something nobody knew about…_ An idea suddenly entered Sora's head.

"Input Password." Demanded the program.

"Equivalent Exchange!" Shouted Sora.

The Hostile program stopped in its tracks and the room fell silent. Ed staggered to his feat, and Riku held his weapon warily, expecting the battle to begin again at any moment.

The Security Program broke the silence. "Password Accepted. Welcome Ansem."

The Hostile Program exploded into a cloud of numbers and faded away, and the column of light disappeared into the ground. Tron cautiously stepped forward and approached the glowing shape that remained, floating in the center of the room. He passed through the boundary where the program had been before with ease. He held out his disc towards the light which collapsed into a mass of pixels and flew into the disc. It glowed for a few seconds and then faded. Tron turned around with a smile. "I have your data."

"Finally!" Whined a frustrated Ed, "Can we go now?"

"Hello! Can you hear me!" Came a frantic voice from above them.

"Leon?" Asked Riku, looking up.

"It seems that Communications are working again." Explained Tron.

"Yeah Leon, We can hear you!" Said Sora, "Loud and Clear!"

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**AN:** **Ah, such a long chapter and a cheesy password XP. Winry makes her debut, Ed and Sora finally start to get along, and hey, a chapter with no short jokes! And Riku's been too serious lately…I gotta fix that… **

**Call me pathetic, but FMA is basically the only reason I didn't fail chemistry class, cut me some slack, I had a bad teacher, but I aced the unit on nuclear transmutation, still got a C though…**

**And apparently there was a bug in the game if you tried to play it on early PS3s, where the Hostile Program would become invincible…Scary. Anyway, hope you liked it!**


	9. Radiant Garden Answers at Last?

**AN: Okay, this took forever because my computer crashed and I had to rewrite the whole chapter...on a blackberry...so, it's not as long as I'd like it to be, but I was kind of pissed that I had to write the same scene twice so, I just wanted to get it over with, hopefully the next chapter will be longer...hopefully.**

**But yeah, written on a blackberry, so I apologize for any formatting or grammatical errors, and uploaded via my brother's computer 'cause mines still dead, so round of applause for my awesome little brother! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Do you guys really think I own this?  
**

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**"Would you get that thing away from me!" Ed barely managed to avoid a head on collision with the wrench as he ducked backwards and found himself up against the computer monitor. "Aw crap" he observed his current predicament, the computer behind him, Winry closing in in front, wrench in hand and nowhere for him to run. It was starting to seem like he wasn't going to survive to see tomorrow. Desperate for assistance, but painfully aware that the others were enjoying his torment too much to help, he tried a different tactic. "Uh guys? Don't you need this computer or something?" Winry stepped closer and rose her wrench into the air, Ed instinctively closed his eyes.

"You know, Winry, beating someone to death with a blunt metal object is considered murder in Radiant Garden." Leon wasn't even trying to hide his smile.

Winry's face changed instantly, "Ah! I'm sorry!" She suddenly seemed so innocent and Ed took the opportunity to find a better place to stand, something close to the door so he could make a beeline for it if things turned sour again. Winry turned to face him and he flinched, freezing midstep. "Please don't worry me like that Ed."

"Ah,wh-what? Oh come on, it wasn't my idea! They dragged me into this! Shouldn't you be beating them with the wrench?" Ed gestured wildly at Sora and Riku, ignoring the snickering sound coming from their general direction.

Leon cleared his throat, "I hate to interrupt," and he looked like he really did, still smirking and everything "But we have some important manners to attend to you know, something small you just happened to risk your life for."

Sora managed to compose himself but the grin didn't fade, "Right, let's take a look at that data." He stepped up to the monitor and the rest of the room crowded around. "Hey Tron! You there?"

There was a moment of static before a response came. "Of course I am here, where else would I-"

"That's not what I meant...never mind, did you find anything?"

"Yes, though most of the data was actually comprised of visual files."

"Visual?"

"Pictures." Riku offered.

"I know what it means!" Sora whacked his friend in the arm, only to be whacked back even harder.

"Wait! You can put pictures in that thing?" Ed exclaimed, looking about as excited as a child on Christmas. "How does that work?"

"Does it even matter?" It was Roy who shouted this time. Sora took a cautionary step away from the angry, human fire starter. "Can we please just learn why there's a whole bunch of shadow demons running around with transmutation circles!"

"I will put them on a disk for you to look at later. In addition to the photographs, there were a few text files, most were short notes, but there was a much larger one, would you like to see it?"

Leon leaned closer to the screen, "Yeah, put it up."

There was a beep, and a moment later, the screen was filled with a written document, not unlike the Ansem reports in appearance.

Sora started to read...

_Something very strange happened to me today, I visited a world so bizarre and unlike my own. This may sound strange coming from me, perhaps I shouldn't be surprised, considering I have traveled to several worlds besides my own, but this one was different...very different._

_To begin, my arrival in this world was almost entirely an accident. I was toying with one of my inventions when the device exploded and I was engulfed in a flash of light. The next thing I knew, I was in a strange city I had never seen before. Let the record show that I have never transferred worlds by accident before._

_Second, this world was different from the others in the sense that it was governed by a different law, if that makes sense. Where my own world and many others are home to magic and those who practice it, this world seems to have none. No magic, nor those who can use it. And when you try to speak to the locals about it they dismiss it as myth and fantasy._

_But that was hardly the strangest aspect of this world, which brings me to my final observation. In the void left by the lack of magic, there was this other ability that was rather common in that world. They called it alchemy, and though it was as normal for them as magic is for me, I couldn't help but find it completely foreign. It gave them the ability to change the world around them, to alter objects into other things all together. It was remarkable, yet as much as I tried to understand it, I just couldn't wrap my head around it. It wasn't limitless, there were some odd rules that the alchemists had to follow, but I never really got the chance to study it thoroughly..._

_I was in this world for barely a day when I was swept up by a strange light and returned to my lab. I vaguely recall seeing a grand set of doors and a silhouetted figure before them, but the image is like a fading dream, and the more I try to remember the less I can recall. It was not until I returned that I realized something else about that world and its alchemy. I have put much thought into it, and I believe that the alchemy of that world is powered by a strange energy, perhaps an energy that originates in the heart of that world, and flows into the hearts of all who live in it. I felt that energy while I was there but didn't make this realization until now. I wish I could look into this more, but all my attempts to return to that world have failed. So this will be my only entry on this strange land and its strange power._

_I must admit that I fear what would happen if that power fell into the wrong hands...or if the heartless got a hold of it...I will hide this data and the photos I took in a secure location._

Sora read the text twice before stepping away to let the others get a better view. Well he definately visited their world, he thought, but that was about all he could deduce from the document.

"What the hell!" Ed exclaimed, "That didn't tell us anything!"

"On the contrary", offered Leon, "We know that your alchemy is definitely connected to the heartless, possibly what's making them stronger, and it may have been connected to the heart of your world."

"That's great and all," Al started, "But how does that help us now?" Leon didn't say anything. The question was instead answered by a cheerful voice from the door.

"You could use it while you help your friends!" The whole room turned to greet Tifa who stood in the doorway. She waved, "Hey guys, power's back on!"

"Who needs help?" Sora asked.

"Your friends! Or rather, their friends, I guess." She waved towards Ed. "They, uh, sent a distress call of sorts. Seems the Heartless are starting to become interested in Twilight Town."

"You don't say..." Leon frowned.

"Twilight Town's in trouble!" Sora was practically on top of Tifa when he asked. He didn't really know why, but the thought that that world might be in danger made him anxious. Maybe it was Roxas's heart yearning to help its friends.

"The heartless weren't there before?" Kairi asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

Tifa shook her head, "They were, but in smaller numbers. But apparently there are more now, and the locals are in danger..."

"We should help!" Kairi declared, not waiting for anyone else to react.

Sora frowned, "I dunno, Kairi, it could be dangerous..."

"I'm coming! They're my friends too!" And she left no room for disagreement.

* * *

"Like hell I'm letting you take her!" Cid's words were barely understandable through his drunken slurs and the loud music blaring from the radio. After determing that they would go help their friends in Twilight Town, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Ed, Al, Donald, and Goofy had gone down to Cid's garage, where they found the mechanic nursing a beer that clearly wasn't his first, and probably wouldn't be his last. Winry had tagged along, but Ed seemed to be completely adamant that she stay behind. Nina was clinging to Al's coat, with Stitch in tow.

When they had asked Cid if they could take one of his gummi ships, his reaction had been less than child appropriate. It seemed that he hadn't quite gotten over their previous landing attempt.

"Ya can't haver...you'll crash an burn an I'll be down anoder ship!" Cid's speech slurred more with every protest. Sora was starting to wonder if maybe they should just wait for him to pass out and then swipe the ship.

"Please Cid, what if I drive it?" Winry offered.

"NO!"

"What if we went really slow?" Sora ventured.

"NO!"

"What if-" Al didn't even get to finish.

"NO!"

"Come on old man!" Ed whined.

"NO! And I'm not old!" The words were surprisingly clear.

Kairi looked like she was about to say something, but Nina pushed in front and started to speak.

"Please Mister Cid?" She batted her eyelashes and melted into a puppy dog pout that would probably make a trained assasin's heart melt.

"Ah, well..." Cid sputtered. He didn't notice the small blue alien-dog sneaking up behind him until it swiped the keys from his belt. He swung around fast enough to send Stitch flying and catapult the beer right out of the half empty bottle. The alien landed in Nina's waiting arms, keys in hand, and she tossed them to Winry who caught them with little effort.

"Looks like I'm coming too!" She called out with a grin and turned to climb into the pilot's seat.

Ed didn't argue, but instead followed the others as they made a beeline for the ship, avoiding Cid's waiving arms and drunken attempts to stop them. Nina and Stitch had already fled the scene of the crime, probably seeking refuge at Merlin's.

"Damn kiz, ge back ere! I'm gonna ge you!" Cid muttered like a drunken old man trying to chase the local teenagers off his lawn. But the combination of alcohol and dizziness left all his threats empty.

Winry fired up the Gummi ship and took off towards the sky and Twilight Town. They all knew that Cid would be furious, but right now, that was the least of their worries.

* * *

**AN: Cid seemed like the kind who would get kind of drunk and pissed over something like that...but I have to admit that I'm not as familiar with his character as I'd like to be, so sorry it that's really ooc...**

**Twilight Town next.**

**Hope you liked it!  
**


	10. Twilight Town Old friends, New allies!

**AN: A somewhat timely update? It must be a sign of the apocalypse! Anyway, chapter 10, written on a blackberry again 'cause my computer's still broken, and I think it's pretty long, well, it looked long on the blackberry, did you know those things have a character limit? XP**

**And a certain someone that a few of you have been asking about finally appears...**

**Enjoy**

**Disclaimer: I'm running out of creative ways to say I don't own this...  
**

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"It's quiet...too quiet..."

"Did you really just say that?"

Sora and Ed were glaring daggers at each other...again. Kairi had expressed her joy that they had begun to get along while inside the computer, but Riku had remained skeptical. And sure enough, as soon as they were all inside the gummi ship, all it took were a few short jokes and a couple comments about Sora's intelligence, or lack there of, for the "friendship" to deteriorate into a shouting match. The noise had been brought to an in-transit halt by the threat of flying wrenches but as soon as they had landed in Twilight Town, it had started up again. And now with Sora quoting one of the cheesiest and most overused lines of dialogue in the universe, it was a miracle Ed wasn't hurtling him off the clock tower. Sora had a point though, it was too quiet.

The report they'd been given by Tifa, which in turn had come from the Elrics' friends who were staying in twilight town, had stated that the town was being attacked by heartless. But in the ten minutes that they'd spent arguing in front of the train station, they hadn't seen anything; heartless, human or otherwise.

"Hey can I see the map?" Riku held his hand out and Kairi passed him the piece of paper. He examined it, trying to figure out where they should go first. "Hey, do you know where your friends are?" Riku asked. The question was directed towards Al, who didn't respond. Riku glanced up to see what the boy was doing only to find him completely ensconced in a laptop computer. Leon's laptop to be presise. The photos Ansem had taken in the Elrics' world had been loaded on to it and it had become the source of quite a bit of awe and discussion on the ride over. "Al? You still with us?" Riku ventured.

"What? Oh yeah, what's up?" Al smiled and closed the computer, slipping it back into its bag.

Riku shook his head, "I was just wondering if you knew anything about where your friends might be?"

Al's smile fell, "Sorry, I don't know..."

Well that's discouraging. "Okay, we'll just have to look for them, and anyone for that matter." Riku scanned the map again, his gaze lingered on the abandoned mansion just beyond the city limits. Maybe there.

"THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?"

Riku was shaken from his thoughts by Sora's shouts and looked up to find his childhood friend lifted 4 feet off the ground in a giant stone birdcage the same color as the stone tiles that lined the floor of the train plaza. That and the blue sparks were all clear giveaways to the cage's orgins.

"There! Now you can shout all you want!" Ed smirked, proud of his handy work.

"Ed, let Sora go." Riku said, halfhearted, turning his attention back to the map, what's the quickest way to the mansion?

He didn't get much time to think before he was interrupted again by a bone chilling shriek.

"What was that?" Winry looked incredibly pale.

"Someone's in trouble!" Kairi said.

"Gaah! Let me outta here they need our help!" Sora's shouts went ignored by Ed who was already halfway across the plaza, not that he actually knew where he was going.

"Brother wait for me!" Al ran after him, keeping one hand on the strap of the laptop bag so it wouldn't fall.

Riku summoned his keyblade and bolted after them as well. Donald took the liberty of freeing Sora from his stone prison with a well aimed thunder spell and then the two of them and Goofy took off down market street. Riku stopped at the end of the plaza to call back to Kairi. "Hey! Stay here with the ship ok!"

"Hey! I wanna help too! You can't just leave me here!" But the boys were already gone and her protest went unheard. "Oh you gotta be kidding me!"

"Story of my life." Kairi turned to face Winry who was leaning against the gummi ship with a sympathetic grin. "Wanna learn how to teach 'em a lesson?"

* * *

There was no denying it, they were definately in trouble. Hayner, Pence, Olette and 5 others were trapped in the corner of the sandlot, a pack of heartless, as the kids had come to know the creatures, were looming over them.

A little girl clung to Olette's leg, and the teen desperately tried to calm the child while hiding her own fear. How had she ended up in this mess?

The trio had been low on cash, so when she saw a help-wanted ad asking for a babysitter, she jumped at the chance. The girl's name was Elicia, and she was very very sweet, though maybe a little spoiled, it seemed that her father doted on her quite a bit, okay that was an understatement, but it wasn't really Olette's place to judge. It seemed that her familly had recently moved to Twilight Town and both parents had to work to make some money, which left her in need of a babysitter. Olette had taken Elicia to meet Pence, who she'd taken a liking to, and Hayner who, despite just being himself, had actually managed to frighten her, though he eventually managed to win her over with some sea salt ice cream. They'd gone to the Sandlot to play ball but had run into Seifer and his usual gang who were as rude and bossy as usual, despite the presence of a small child.

They hadn't been there very long when the creatures had appeared, and despite Seifer and Hayner's heroic, or idiotic, attempts to fight them off with struggle bats, Olette couldn't imagine why they thought that was going to work, they were stranded and cornered and totally screwed.

"Now would be a really good time for someone to save us!" Pence half-cried.

Hayner wacked him half-heartedly with the struggle bat, "Be a man!"

"Be a man! What does it matter if we're about to die?"

Elicia cringed against Olette who picked up the small child to try and comfort her. "Guys, easy on the whole dying thing!" Both boys nodded in apology.

"No-one's gonna die!" Seifer bolted forward, (useless) struggle bat held high, and no-one was surprised when he was tossed into the air by the heartless and landed hard on the ground behind them. The heartless surrounded him, now would've been a great time for the others to flee, since the heartless weren't paying attention, but they were to afraid to move.

"He needs help!" Hayner stepped forward to save his rival but Pence grabbed his arm.

"Bad idea! You really think you can fight him off with a toy!"

"Well what do you suggest?"

"How 'bout you let the experts handle this?" The kids turned towards the source of the new voice and witnessed seven figures come bolting down Market Street (one on a skateboard) and collide head on with the heartless. An odd assortment of weapons were waved, spells were cast and the pack of heartless was reduced to two sorry individuals who had completely forgotten about their previous target. Seifer and friends took the chance to make a break for it, while Hayner's group grinned in recognition at some old acquaintances.

"Sora! And...wait...I don't actually know you guys." Hayner squinted in confusion at Riku and the Elrics.

"I'm guessing that's Riku." Pence offered.

"Ed! Al!" Elicia squirmed out of Olette's grasp and bolted towards thr boys. Olette managed to grab her arm before she got too close.

"Wait, you know them?"

"Yup! They're friends of daddy's!" She was waving at them, and the one in blue waved back before turning his attention back to the heartless.

"On your right Sora!" Ed shouted, shoving his ally out of the way and blocking an attack from one of the heartless. Sora spun around and he and Ed struck the heartless together, knocking it out of existence.

Ed smiled cockily, "Alchemy may be making 'em stronger somehow, but at least they can't use it."

Sora nodded in agreement, "And it sure as hell ain't making them smarter!"

"Wait!" Donald interrupted the victory party, "Where's the other one?"

"Uhhh..." Sora turned around, but the other heartless was nowhere to be seen. He scanned the lot with his eyes, taking in the shocked looking locals huddled in the corner, but there was no sign of the heartless, and that made no sense.

Suddenly Sora saw a shadow dash across the ground and leap up behind Al.

Ed shouted first, "Al! Look out!" But he was too far and in the wrong position to help his brother. Al turned just as the heartless loomed over him. And just when it seemed like it was too late, the heartless went flying to the right, slammed hard against the wall and stuck there by an array of throwing knives.

"You kids okay?" A tall man with glasses and a bit of a beard and one cowlick that stuck out over his forehead approached the group. His uniform was similar to the one Mustang wore and he was accompanied by a young girl with short brown hair and large glasses that obscured her face.

The girl stumbled up next to the man and turned to him exasperated and out of breath. "Mr. Hughes! Can please rest now?"

The man, Hughes, turned to the girl with a huge grin, "Sheska! Don't tell me your tired already!"

The girl visibly sunk and and whimpered her response, "Of course I am, you just dragged me half way across the town..." Her words trailed off at the end and she slid down on the stone.

"DADDY!" Elicia ran into her father's Waiting arms and congratulated him on beating the "monsters".

Hughes patted his daughter on the head and then turned towards the Elrics and company. "Seriously, you all okay?" The boys nodded and Hughes turned his attention to the weapon in Sora's hand. "By any chance are you-"

"SORA!" Hayner and gang were on top of the keybearer in an instant and the force of the group hug sent the young hero toppling to the ground.

"H-hey guys!" He choked out, kicking away the skateboard he'd "borrowed" on the way down to catch up, "Ah! C-can't breath!"

"Sorry Sora!" Olette apologized and yanked her friends off of the choking keyblade bearer. "Glad you could make it though."

"Same." Sora pushed himself up and surveyed the scene. The Elrics were locked in conversation with the man, Hughes, who seemed to waving something in their faces, wait, were those photographs?

"She's right here! I don't need to see pictures!" Ed yelled.

Riku approached the group, "I'm going to assume that you're the 'friend' who alerted us to the heartless?"

Hughes's face suddenly became more serious, but the smile didn't fade, "Yup, that's me." He turned towards Olette, "Would you mind taking Elicia home for me? I'll pay you extra for your trouble."

"Ah well-"

"She'll do it!" Hayner interrupted, "Come on Elicia! I'll get you more icecream!"

"Really!" The girl climbed into Hayner's grasp and he hoisted her onto his shoulders.

"Sure! We'll get two more!"

"Yay!"

The group trotted off and Olette stopped at the edge of the sandlot. "Tell Kairi we said Hi okay!" Then she turned and ran after her friends.

Uh oh...Sora remembered...Kairi...

* * *

The group was relieved to find that Kairi and Winry had waited patiently with the gummi ship. When they returned the girls were sitting on the train station steps talking and laughing about something or other. When she saw them coming Kairi stood up and trotted over to her friends.

"Hey guys!" She seemed a little too cheery.

"Hi." Sora was wary of the cheeryness.

"How'd it go? Are those the friends?" She nodded her head towards Hughes and Sheska.

Sora let his guard down, it was Kairi what did he have to worry about? "Yeah this is Hughes and-" Sora was cut off by a large object colliding suddenly and painfully with his skull. He collapsed to the ground, grasping his throbbing head and wondering if he would be suffering permanent brain damage.

He lifted his head to gaze at Kairi, who was smirking at him, keyblade in hand, "That's for leaving me behind!" She sounded like she was enjoying his pain.

Winry walked up and patted Kairi on the shoulder, "See? It helps right!"

Sora did a double take and was sure his jaw dropped far enough to whack the pavement. "What did you tell her?"

Winry smiled, "Oh, I just gave her some advice on how to take care of herself is all."

Kairi turned towards Riku who visibly flinched. Bet he regrets giving her that keyblade now! Sora thought.

"See what I have to deal with?" Ed had held out a hand to help Sora to his feet.

"I'll never underestimate girls again..." Sora rubbed his head, yeah there was definitely a bumb forming.

"I'd hate to interupt the love fest." Everyone turned bright red at Hughes' words and Sheska shuffled awkwardly out of the line of fire. "We have some important matters to discuss," It was like he had no idea what he'd just said, "Oh, Sora, didn't you have a message you wanted to pass to Kairi?"

"Oh right! Kairi, Olette says hi."

"You saw them? I wanna say hi, do you know where they were going?"

"They were saying something about icecream I think."

"Ok, I'll go look for them!"

Kairi trotted off down market street and after a moment's deliberation, Winry ran after her.

"So about the important stuff." Ed ventured turning to Hughes. "How much do you know?"

"Honestly? Not much." Hughes was smiling and Ed looked just about ready to smack someone!

"What do you mean you don't know anything!" Al put a hand on his brother's shoulder, a vain attempt to try and calm him down.

"Look, all I know is these heartless suddenly attacked. We were able to get around fast enough to get rid of them and we're working out some sort of town defense system, so we should be okay from now on, but I don't think we were the only world attacked, you know?"

Sora thought about that, it made sense. "Maybe we should go see if they're okay."

Ed nodded in agreement, "And maybe we'll find more answers that way."

"All right then! Let's go!"

"I'd hate to interupt." Riku said, "But we can't go anywhere without Kairi and Winry."

"Oh...right." Sora was definitely not used to having his friends around on these adventures.

* * *

They spent most of the time waiting by looking through the photographs Ansem had taken in the Elric's world. It seemed like he'd actually been able to see quite a bit in a day, but most of the pictures were of a city that Ed identified as Central.

Eventually, the girls returned, but they weren't alone, Hayner and crew + Elicia were with them, each holding at least one sea salt ice cream, and Seifer was there as well, mich to Hayner's apparent dismay. He appeared to be testing some pickup lines on Winry who just smiled awkwardly while Hayner shouted insult after insult with little to no affect.

"No-one invited you! Go back to doing whatever it is you do!"

"What's the matter kid? Jealous?"

Hayner lit up at that and Sora was convinced he was about to kill Seifer when Ed stood up and walked over to them. He grabbed Seifer with his automail arm and turned him so they were face to face, or rather, so Ed was looking up at Seifer. "Leave her alone." He did not sound amused.

Seifer confirmed everything Sora thought about him with his next words. "What you gonna do about it shorty?" Before anyone could say gunblade, Seifer was on the ground for the second time that day, with little recollection of how he got there, save for a fleeting memory of a shor-fun sized, blond kid flipping him over his shoulder.

Hayner gawked at Ed like an idiot, mouth agape and half melted ice cream dripping down his cheek. "Dude! I have no clue who you are, but that wad the most awesome thing ever!"

"Uh thanks?" Ed looked from Hayner to Winry to Seifer. He pointed his thumb towards the unconscious thug, "So, uh, who is he again?"

Winry took Ed's arm and dragged him towards the station and the ship, "No one you need to worry about."

Sora snickered at the whole scene, so that's what it was like with them. He stood up and waved Kairi over. She said goodbye to her friends as they headed up to the clocktower and went to join Sora.

"So, what next?"

Sora swallowed hard. "Okay, so we think we need to go and make sure everyone knows how to handle these heartless and all, but I would really sleep better at night if you would wait in Radiant Garden where it's safe." He closed his eyes, waiting for a keyblade to the head that never came.

He warily opened his eyes to find Kairi smiling. "I thought you might say that." She said, "But we only have one gummi ship."

Sora looked at the ship, no denying that, "We could drop you off?"

"If you go back right now, Cid'll kill you." Winry said, that was probably true too.

"I have a gummi ship I could lend you." Everyond looked at Hughes in disbelief, "Cid lent it to me so I could bring my family here, I haven't been able to return yet. Just don't crash it.

"Sounds good." Sora nodded, "So, who's going where?"

"We're going with you!" Donald exclaimed, grabbing Goofy by the collar. Riku just nodded in acknowledgment.

"And us." Said Ed signaling to his brother and himself. He turned to Winry with a pleading look on his face. "Please go with Kairi."

She smiled, "Don't worry, I will, but only to run damage control with Cid so he doesn't kill you when you do get back."

Ed sighed in relief regardless of the teasing.

"Sora?" Kairi asked shyly, Sora turned towards her and she grabbed his hand. She dropped something cold and metallic into it. When she released his hand he opened it and found a plain silver cell phone with a decorative charm hanging from it. He recognized the charm, shaped like a star and composed of seashells stitched together.

"Kairi I-"

"I asked Cid for it. You can make calls across worlds with it. Keep in touch okay?" She smiled at him.

Sora blushed, but smiled nonetheless. "Okay, I promise." And with that, they went their separate ways.

* * *

**AN: WOOT! HUGHES! Took me long enough to get this written, but I think I'm over my writer's block for now so hopefully there will be some more timely updates in the next few weeks...hopefully...**

**Well, this is a short author's note...**

**Hope you liked it!  
**


	11. Land of Dragons A Heartless Invasion

**AN: This was originally going to be 2 chapters, but then I realized how short the first one was and just connected them. So you get a really long chapter instead, and a new Disney world.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own it…sadly…**

**

* * *

**Once they were airborne, a task that had been completely reliant on how long it took them to get away from Hughes and his photo album. They began "discussing" which world they should visit first. Rather, they were completely incapable of coming to an agreement. Donald thought they should visit Beast's castle, Riku was worried about Agrabah, Goofy thought they should go to Atlantica. And Sora was adamant about visiting the Olympus Coliseum. The Elrics had tried to keep up initially, asking questions about the worlds, what they were like, who lived there, in the hopes of aiding the decision. But in the end it proved too much to follow, even for them, and they became content to sit back and watch the others battle it out.

"Sora! We don't need to go to Olympus, they have Hercules! They'll be fine!" Donald exclaimed. "But Belle could be in trouble! We need to help her!"

"Belle has Beast! She doesn't need your help!"

"How do you know!"

"This is getting ridiculous!" Ed shouted, finally standing up and storming to the controls at the front of the ship. He picked up the map that had been sitting there, gave it a quick, confused glance, and then propped it up against one of the seats. "Throw a dart at it!"

"Eh?"

"Throw a dart at it!"

"We don't have any darts." Sora offered.

"Then a spit ball or something!"

"Ugh..." Sora balled up a piece of tissue and stared, pleading, at Ed, who nodded, so he spit on it, and rolled it around between his fingers until he was sure it was wet and sticky enough.

"We don't have a straw either." Riku said, looking amused and grossed out at the same time.

"Oh, just throw it!"

"Okay." Sora tossed it and Ed actually ducked out of the way, not wanting to suffer a spit ball to the face. The glob stuck to the map which flopped over onto the seat.

Riku warily stepped forward and lifted the map by a corner, using only two fingers, as if the whole thing were slimy and gross. He held it up in front of him, examining the results.

"And the verdict is?" Sora asked impatiently.

Riku flipped the map around so they could all see. A goopy, slimy glob of white stuck loosely and messily to the parchment next to a small icon with an Asian theme. The text read "Land of Dragons."

Sora smirked. "Guess we're eating Chinese food tonight."

* * *

It was late autumn and a cool breeze blew multicolored leaves in different hues of red and orange across the camp in mini tornadoes. Though the mountains were already dusted with snow, it would be quite some time before any of it reached the low lying valleys, if it reached them at all. But the effects the imminent cold weather would have of the local farms were the least of the peoples' problems and no-one had time to admire the lovely foliage.

Experienced soldiers scurried across the military camp, making preparations and trying to organize the new recruits who were forming a long and chaotic registration line right down the middle of the camp. The recent invasion of heartless had had a surprising effect on the people of the Land of Dragons. Shortly after the creatures' initial arrival, the emperor sent out a recruitment call, asking for all able bodied young men to fight for the sake of their land. And the people were surprisingly willing. So much so that the generals had actually had to turn away boys who were too young to fight. And yet they kept coming back, wanting to fight for their honor and their world. Too bad it probably wasn't going to do much good.

Mulan sighed, this was pointless, she'd fought these creatures before and she knew better. It took more than a sword and some hotshots in shiny armor to get rid of them.

"You don't seem very confident."

Mulan looked to the young woman by her side. She was roughly the same age as her and her eyes burned with the same fierce determination. She was newcomer from another world but apparently the land she came from wasn't terribly different from Mulan's. She and her allies, an elderly man clad in the same black armor as the girl and young man with a sword who'd been identified as a Prince, had insisted that the heartless were responsible for displacing them from their world and that they be allowed to aid in the battle.

Mulan smiled at the strange girl. "Lanfan, it's not that I don't believe in our soldiers, it's just, I've fought these things before, and you need a weapon called a keyblade to kill them."

"A key?"

"Eh...it's not exactly a key. It doesn't matter, we don't have one."

"Well, we can't very well wait for one to show up."

"True." Mulan looked over towards Li, he was conversing with Lanfan's elderly partner, identified as her grandfather, about proper battle strategies. It seemed that Li was in favor of a frontal attack, while the man wanted to try a more subtle approach.

"Have you seen the prince?" Lanfan asked suddenly.

Mulan looked around and realized he was nowhere to be seen, and neither were three particular soldiers with a knack for causing trouble. "Uh oh..."

* * *

When a local boy had said that the girls in the nearby village were gorgeous, he'd gotten the attention of Yao, Ling, Chien Po, and certain foreign prince by the name of Ling Yao. Or rather he'd gotten the attention of the three locals, and they had convinced the prince to come along so they could justify their excursion as "bodyguard duty."

But, upon arrival, the prince had become rather interested in a local storyteller's tale of an immortal man who lived in the mountains. The story was no more than a fairy tale, but it had gotten him to follow the poor storyteller halfway across town asking questions, until he determined it was a dead end.

And now, as usual, he was lost.

"And hungry..." He whined to himself as he shuffled down the street grasping his growling stomach. "There must be something to eat around here." As if answering his plea, a small cafe came into view. Too bad he didn't have any money. "Aw come on! That's not fair!" It smelled really good too. "Where'd those soldiers go?"

He wandered aimlessly down a few more alleys but found nothing but a marketplace full of food and no-one willing to lend him any money. "I think someone's trying to torture me..." He stared helplessly at the food, looking like a kicked puppy. As he watched the people go by, he noticed a shadow dance oddly across the ground. At first he thought it was a trick of his hungry mind, but then it started to rise out of the ground.

The movement started slow and unnoticeable, and then drastically shifted to quick and violent as a dark, shadowy creature erupted out of the stone street.

People began to shriek and run in fear. Ling stood his ground and pulled his sword from its holster on his back. "Heartless" he observed, "time for some action!"

* * *

When Mulan and Lanfan arrived in the nearby village, following the word of some witnesses who claimed the subjects of their search were here, they were greeted by panic and screams.

"What's going on?" Mulan asked, grabbing the arm of a young man as he ran by.

The boy was visibly shaken, eyes wide with terror. "M-m-monsters! I-i-in the market!" He managed to stutter the answer through sobs and then took off, screaming in terror.

"Heartless?" Lanfan asked.

"Most likely." Mulan scanned the faces of the crowd until her gaze settled on one she recognized. "Yao!"

The squat man turned to face his superior office with a look of shock. The two girls ran over to him. Mulan checked the immediate area, she didn't see anyone else, and surely Chien Po couldn't possibly be that easy to miss. "Where is everyone?" Mulan asked.

"The prince wandered off, they went to look for him."

"And why were you here to begin with?"

"Ah, well, uh...bodyguard duty."

Mulan was about to scold him when a crashing sound from the marketplace caught their attention. "Talk later, fight now!" She called as she flew across the square to the market, Yao and Lanfan right on her heels. But by the time they arrived in the market it was too late.

Ling Yao, prince of Xing, stood in the center of the marketplace, sword in one hand, meetbun in the other, the remains of a heartless fading behind him. He looked up to meet the gaze of his friends. "Oh hey guys! There you are! I was looking for you!"

* * *

"Owww!" Mei Chang whined and rubbed her swollen forehead where the bamboo had whacked her between the eyes a moment before. Following the words of a old storyteller, she'd wandered up into the woods looking for the immortal man. Now she stood in the bamboo grove, sore, tired and of course hungry.

"Waaaah! Why's this always gotta be so difficult!" She flopped on the ground with enough force to send Xao Mei hovering into the air for a split second before the small bear landed back on her shoulder with a plop. Mei sat stubbornly in the center of the grove. Arms crossed and face twisted into an unpleasant scowl. Nothing seemed to be going right for her.

Ever since the strange shadow monsters had appeared on her world and done...whatever it was they did...she'd been wandering around this place, which wasn't actually all that different from the place she'd grown up in. But she had yet to run into anyone she knew and it was starting to get lonely. Not to mention, those shadow creatures were everywhere in this world and there was no escaping them.

"Mmmm. I hope Mister Alphonse is ok." She said, her mind fluttering to the focus of her childish crush.

While she was busy dreaming about happier days in a familiar land, she didn't notice the bushes behind her moving and rustling, or the sound of small footsteps coming her way. Until they were accompanied by a rather loud voice.

"Waaaaaah! Somebody help me!" Mei turned around, startled. A small, red reptile flew out of the bushes and took the liberty of using Mei as a human shield, hiding behind her and shaking like a coward.

It took Mei a minute for her mind to catch up with what her eyes were seeing. But only a minute. "Dragon!" She leapt back, startled and a little wary. Were dragons good? Bad? Wait, did it talk?

The little creature stared at her then back in the direction it came. "Talk later, fight now!" He pointed frantically at the bushes. It took Mei another minute, but she finally turned her attention to the area of interest. And just in time to see a large, shadowy beast emerge from the grass.

"Awww! Not another one!" She pulled her knives from her sleeves and threw five at her target. Red ribbons fluttering in the wind as they flew, they landed on five points in a circle surrounding the creature. She dropped five more at her feet, drew a star connecting the points with a stick, and dropped her hands to the ground. As soon as her hands touched the dirt, the grove lit up with blue sparks that danced and crept across the ground with speed and grace. When they connected with the circle of blades on the other side, a star formed, made of the very same sparks which preceded to arch up and, along with a spear of earth raised from the ground, punctured the shadow creature through its center.

The creature gave out a strained cry as it collapsed and faded into a cloud a darkness that then vanished entirely.

Mei sighed and collapsed in exhaustion, "This is getting old!" She whined.

"Not bad! How'd you do that?" Mei looked down to find the dragon staring at her.

"Do what?" Dragons could talk?

"Beat that heartless." Yeah, he was definitely talking.

"Heartless? Is that what they're called?"

"You're not from around here are you?"

"That obvious?" Mei gave a sheepish smile.

"Yeah, but don't worry I'll take care of you, that's my job after all, got a name?"

"Uh, yeah, Mei Chang. Oh and this is Xao Mei." She pointed at her furry companion.

"Well it's good to meet'cha Mei! The name's Mushu! Family guardian extraordinaire! You got nothing to worry about with me around!"

And with that the unlikely group started out of the woods towards the encampment.

If any of the parties going about their business that day had looked up, they might have seen the gummi ship entering the atmosphere, carrying the key to their victory, literally.

* * *

**AN: New World! New Characters! Yay! Ok, so there are 2 Lings, the one from FMA and the one from Mulan...and then there is also a Yao in Mulan...so, that's confusing...**

**And no that is not how I picked the order that the worlds will be visited in...not yet anyway...  
**

**Hope You liked it.**


	12. Land of Dragons The Immortal Man

**AN: OK, so, I'm back at school which means updates may become less regular *dodges bricks*  
**

**More Land of Dragons…Nothing else really to say here…**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned 'em, would I be doing this...Yeah…I probably would be…I still don't own 'em though…**

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* * *

**Ed surveyed the encampment with a scowl on his face. "Are you kidding me? All this and I'm back with the military?"

"Wait! What?" Sora stared at Ed in shock, "You were in the military? You're like thirteen!"

"I'm sixteen, I'm older than you! And I'll have you know I was the youngest state alchemist in history!"

"That's great." Sora was apathetic as he said it. He leaned over to Riku and asked "What's a state alchemist?" He said it a lot louder than he needed to.

"Nothing you need to worry about. It's just a title." Al explained. Ed was fuming again.

"Now where are the people in charge?" Goofy placed his hands above his eyes to block the bright light and scanned the layout of the camp. It was crowded, more so than Sora remembered, and hectic too.

"They look like they're going to war." Donald observed.

Riku nodded. "I guess they've already noticed the heartless invasion. At least we won't have to explain."

"Explain to who? Where is everybody?" Sora exclaimed. The rest of the group waved in the general direction of the crowd with 'are you serious?' looks on their faces. Sora rolled his eyes. "I meant everyone we know!"

"Sora?" As if answering the boy's calls, a large man in ornate, historic armor and a red cloak approached the group.

Sora recognized him instantly, "Li!"

The general nodded in recognition. He was accompanied by a serious looking, elderly man with white hair and Asian features. He was staring intently at the Elrics and Ed felt like he looked familiar, but couldn't quite place it.

"This is great!" Exclaimed Li, "Now that you're here, our soldiers actually stand a chance at driving off the heartless."

"Whoah! Hold on a second!" Ed shouted, "I just came from taking military orders! I'm here to help, but I'm not so keen on joining your little army!"

Li looked amused. "I can assure you that our army is far from 'little'." The familiar but not recognizable man next to him made a sound that was halfway between a chuckle and a grunt. "But since you were in the military, may I ask what position you held?"

"Uh, well my rank was equivalent to Major, I guess."

"Ah, okay, I'm a general so I outrank you." Li didn't look like he took Ed seriously at all.

"But I'm royalty so I outrank you all!"

The whole group turned to see the source of the overly cheery statement. A young man was coming over the rise, arms full of food, flanked by two young women.

Ed and Al's eyes widened in shock. "Ling?" They shrieked at almost the same time.

The scrawny soldier also named Ling, who walked with his friends behind the front group, looked up momentarily, but then went back to his conversation. This confusion had popped up quite a bit since the strangers' arrival, as was to be expected when two people with the same name were around each other, and he was already getting used to it.

"What? How? Ling! Lanfan! It's really you!" Ed was rambling like a kid, and Al looked too shocked for words. Both were wearing huge grins that made them look a little foolish.

"Hey! It's the tiny alchemist guy!" Ling sang cheerily. He had to dodge a well aimed punch from Ed, but was laughing the whole time. "Really, it's good to see you guys."

The reunion was actually kind of cute, and Sora was waiting for them to hug so he could snap a picture on the cell phone Kairi had given him. If nothing else, it would be cute, but in the best scenario, it would make great blackmail.

"Is Mei here?" Al asked expectantly, scanning the area, taking in every person within his line of sight, and there were quite a few who had stopped to see what the commotion was about.

"You mean that Chang princess? No I haven't seen her. Wasn't she hanging around with that Scar guy?"

"Oh right." Al looked disappointed. Sora guessed that they weren't as lucky as he'd originally thought. They had lost contact with some friends, and Sora knew the pain of not being able to find the people you care about, all too well.

"This is great! Now we can get rid of those heartless!" Mulan exclaimed!

Lanfan looked confused. "I thought you said we needed a key?"

"Yeah but he has the key." She pointed at Sora, who blushed a little from the attention. Then Mulan's face fell a little. She turned to Ling, who was arguing jokingly with Ed. "Wait, how did you beat that heartless in the marketplace?"

Ling looked at her, still smiling. "Oh, I just stabbed it 'til it died!"

"And that worked?" Mulan had tried that, the first time she'd encountered these new heartless. She'd been able to defeat the old ones, especially with Sora's help, but these new ones were stronger, and her sword had been completely useless.

"What's going on?" Sora was tired of being left out of the conversation.

"These new heartless, and how we defeat them." Mulan explained.

"Now that you mentioned it," Sora started, "Are they getting easier to beat?"

The question was aimed at Riku, who took a moment to realize he was supposed to answer. He just shrugged thinking and trying to come up with an explanation.

"Maybe we're getting stronger?" Goofy asked. Sora didn't like that it was a question.

"Perhaps we should finish this conversation elsewhere." Li offered, gesturing towards the largest tent in the encampment.

The group started heading towards the tent. Mulan stopped momentarily and looked off into the woods. "Where's Mushu?"

**

* * *

**

"You're looking for the immortal man too!" Mei was thrilled when she'd heard that she and the little dragon were following the same target.

They were slowly making their way through the bamboo, stumbling down an ancient overgrown path, marked and maintained only by the constant footsteps of travelers. Mei had told Mushu what she was doing in the woods and he had insisted she accompany him, only now had he given her the full story. "Yeah, but you see that's the thing! There is no immortal man; it's just an old fairytale." Mei looked crushed.

"So why are you looking for him?" It seemed weird that someone - something - that didn't believe the story would go this far to find the guy.

"Well, I heard some soldiers talking about a farmer in the area, apparently the guy had gone up the mountain recently to sell his crops, and he claims to have seen a man jump from a huge cliff, and get up and walk away, completely unscathed."

"You think he's the immortal man?"

"Well, it doesn't really match the story...but that's not normal. I was hoping to find this farmer and get more info, he lives on the other side of this grove. You never know, it could all be connected to the heartless."

Mei cringed at the last word, she didn't like the heartless. And Mushu's seemingly half informed explanation of what they were hadn't helped. If the immortal man was connected, maybe she'd give up on him.

"Here we are! Mushu pulled back the leaves of a bush to reveal a recently harvested field. Beyond the field lay a quaint, but not unkempt, farmhouse accompanied by an average sized barn. A few cows grazed in a nearby paddock and some farmhands sloshed around in a rice paddy.

Mushu climbed up on Mei's shoulder, but then leapt to the other one when Xao Mei tried to nip at him. "Listen, you're gonna have to do the talking, I'll hide back here and give you some guidance.

"Wait me? What about you?"

"You really think he'll give answers to a dragon?"

"Good point...wait, what were you planning on doing before you found me?"

"Uhhh...don't worry about that, c'mon we're running out of time."

And with that, Mei decided to drop it, and started towards the farmhouse.

**

* * *

**

"That settles it, they are definitely getting weaker!" Li sounded really sure, but Sora had jumped into the same boat as Goofy and was convinced that the heartless were not weaker, but that they were, in fact, stronger.

"So how do you explain Ling's sword being enough to kill one, when mine was useless?" Mulan was on Li's side. She had fought the heartless during the initial invasion, but hadn't faced them since, it was possible that they'd become weaker in that time.

"Maybe his is more effective because he's from the world with the power that's making them stronger?" Sora offered.

"I dunno..." Great Ed was on their side too, was it really so hard to believe that they were actually good at what they did?

"I remember Lieutenant Hawkeye having trouble defeating them with her guns." Al offered. "So I don't think that's it."

"For the sake of fareness, let the record show that in my experience, bullets have proved useless on more than one occasion." Ed offered. Sora just stared at him. Now that he thought about it, was there anybody he knew who fought with a gun? Leon's gunblade didn't count.

"And the first time we fought them it was difficult. Two keyblades were barely enough to take 'em out. Now, this Lin guys takes one out no problem."

"It's Ling..." No-one was really listening though.

"Okay fine! So let's say they have gotten weaker! How? Why?" Sora was ready to accept the possibility, mostly because he was out-voted.

"Maybe there's something in the air?" Goofy offered.

"Is it possible there's a person behind it?" Lanfan asked.

Riku's mind drifted to a woman in black robes with a menacing face. One he knew was all too willing to interfere in other people's wars if it suited her own needs. One with enough magical power that she could actually do something like this.

His thoughts were interrupted by an explosion, what was it with them and explosions? A second later Chien Po came storming through the front of the tent. Or rather, he collided with the front of the tent with the force of a tank, sending the whole thing flying a few feet back, and leaving it a little less grand. He never really fit through the front of the tent anyway...

"H-heartless!" He managed to wheeze out between panicked breaths.

"How did they get in?" Li was on his feet and in full general mode. Chien Po gave the full report. Apparently the heartless had ambushed the camp. The soldiers had been quick to respond but quickly overwhelmed.

"Alright let's move!" He shouted his orders and the warriors populating the tent moved into the battle field. Mulan, armed with an ornate sword, swung at a heartless near the door, hitting it square in the chest. It cried out and collapsed, fading into the shadows.

"It worked!" She cried out in shock.

"I told you! They're getting weaker!" Donald called out! Actually he hadn't been the first to bring that up, but Sora didn't feel like correcting him. Now wasn't really the time.

The group took a moment to examine the camp. It was nearly abandoned. Only a few soldiers remained Yao and the other Ling among them. Most of the tents had collapsed or were scorched or burning. One large one had been completely incinerated, leaving only a ring of ash and scorched ground, the smoke was still rising from the blackened center.

"What happened there?" Sora asked, indicating the scorched ground.

"Explosion, we were storing cannons in there." Li answered as he slashed at another heartless. They weren't doing too badly. Sora watched as Lanfan threw knives at a heartless and danced around another with advanced martial arts. Ling was getting the best of them with his sword skills, which Sora had to admit were rather impressive for a prince, even the old man was holding his own. And of course the rest of them, Mulan and Li included, had handled the heartless before.

But even if they were weaker, and even if the weapons were having an effect for some unknown reason. They were still greatly outnumbered.

Sora examined the camp again, there had to be something he could do. His gaze lingered on the charred remains of the cannon storage, and an idea came to him.

"Hey! Were you storing cannons anywhere else?" He asked Mulan, who was fighting by his side.

"Yeah, in there." She slashed at another heartless and then pointed towards a large square, plain, white tent with a red trim.

Sora grinned and bolted towards the tent. He grabbed the sleeve of Ed's jacket along the way and dragged him along. The blond tripped as he was pulled off his feel and half stumbled, half ran, along side Sora. Al looked concerned out of the corner of his eye, but couldn't stop fighting long enough to rescue his brother from whatever crazy scheme Sora had come up with.

The boys arrived at the tent and Ed stumbled free of Sora's grasp. "What are you doing? We have to fight!"

"With these numbers we don't stand a chance! Lift me up!"

"What?"

Sora pointed at the top of the tent. "I have a plan, lift me up! Use your alchemy!"

Ed clapped his hands and slapped the ground. One moment, and an array of sparks later, Sora was on top of a rising platform of stone, and a moment later, on top of the tent.

Once he found his footing, he raised his keyblade above his head and started waiving it around like an idiot. "Hey! Over here!"

"What are you doing!" Ed screamed from the ground.

"I'm trying to get the heartless to come over! They should be attracted to the keyblade!" So why weren't they? They were pretty much completely ignoring him.

"You idiot!" There was another flash of sparks and then Ed was on top of the tent next to Sora. He raised his own keyblade into the air, waiving it around. "Hey! Hey! Over here!"

Sora was about to tell him to give up, it wasn't really working. But the last thing he expected happened. The heartless actually turned around and started coming their way. No, not _Their _way, _Ed's_ way.

"Okay genius, what's your plan?" Ed asked, an edge to his voice.

Sora shook off the thoughts and returned to reality, "Hang on, they need to get closer." Sora still couldn't believe that this plan was working. So far, anyway. "Closer, closer, closer..." The heartless horde was only a few feet from the tent now. The other fighters were watching in disbelief, trying to figure out what was going on.

"I think they're pretty damn close!" Ed actually sounded a little worried.

"Right!" Sora grabbed Ed by the back of his jacket. He lifted his keyblade in a large arch through the air around them calling out while he did so. "Aero!" His words initiated the spell, and though it wasn't nearly as powerful as anything Donald could summon, a gust of wind quickly lifted both boys into the air. As soon as their feet were no longer in contact with the tent Sora aimed his keyblade downwards and initiated another spell. "Fire!" A huge fireball erupted from the end of his keyblade. Hot enough that Sora could feel the heat as it shot downwards, it collided with the roof of the tent and set off a massive explosion.

The resulting fireball engulfed the surrounding heartless. Sora and Ed glided overhead, coming down safely just as the flames began to fade. The last of the heartless were fading into shadows in the middle of another massive circle of scorched earth.

Li sighed as he watched the spectacle, leaning over towards Mulan. "Remind me to order more cannons." The female soldier smiled, and the others all let out sighs of relief as the battle came to an end. Their encampment was destroyed, but at least they were safe, for now.

"You're crazy! Ya' know that?" Ed was sitting on the ground, batting at the scorched, smoking ends of his jacket and staring up at Sora, who stood proudly with the cockiest of grins on his face. He was crazy but even Ed couldn't fault him for a lack of bravery.

Riku walked over to see they were okay, Al by his side. "At least we learned that they've become easier to kill!" The younger Elric offered as he held out a hand to lift his brother off the ground.

"Two things." Sora corrected, his companions stared at him in confusion. "That, and for some reason, they're attracted to you guys." He gestured towards Ed when he said it. Ed opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it, unsure of how to respond.

**

* * *

**

"Are you sure we're going the right way?"

"Of course I'm sure, how do you think I got here?"

"You got lost remember?"

Mei and Mushu had wandering in circles through the bamboo forest for hours. Their visit to the farmer allowed them to confirm the story they'd heard about the immortal man on the mountain. The farmer hadn't been nearly as old as Mushu had made him out to be. A little past middle age, he'd told Mei that she resembled his daughter who was now married and living elsewhere. He had been more than willing to answer her questions, the questions Mushu was whispering in her ear, and told her everything she needed to know. He'd also been nice enough to feed her lunch which had been a plus since she hadn't had anything decent to eat in a while. After leaving, Mushu had insisted upon bringing the information to a military encampment where he said he had allies who might want to hear about it. Mei had wanted to climb the mountain immediately, but decided to humor the dragon, after all, it was thanks to him that she'd gotten the information in the first place, so she owed him this much.

She patted the map in her pocket, with the spot where the man had been sighted circled in dark black ink. They would leave as soon as they picked up Mushu's friends, or that's what the dragon had told her anyway.

She was starting to lose faith in the supposed family guardian. They'd been walking through the bamboo grove for a while and that particular stick looked awfully familiar to her.

"Mushu! We're definitely lost!"

"Are not! I know exactly where we are! The encampment's right beyond those trees!"

"I'm sure it is." Mei rolled her eyes and reached out to pull the branches out of the way. "Look, maybe we should ask-" She was cut off by what she saw beyond the grove. A military encampment, trashed and scorched, smoke still rising from burnt tents.

Mushu leapt from Mei's shoulder with a panicked look on his face. "Mulan? Mulan!"

"Mushu come back! You don't know if it's safe!" Mei rounded the corner and came to a skidding halt when she realized that she and the dragon were far from the only ones in the camp. Standing alongside a tent that was still relatively intact was a group of people, most of whom she didn't recognize. But the dragon obviously did, Mushu was already in the arms of a young woman with dark hair and a sword at her belt, but it was a young boy who caught Mei's attention. She could barely see him through the tears that filled her eyes and blurred her vision. A boy with a blue jacket and blond hair.

"Mister Alphonse!" And before the young alchemist knew what was happening, a young girl was crying in his arms.

**

* * *

**

"I wonder if the old man told the tale?" A dark haired man sat back on the pile of rubble he'd claimed as his chair. A light snowfall left droplets of water on his sunglasses. He smiled, revealing oddly sharp teeth and when his glasses slid down his nose one could see his red-violet eyes and slitted pupils. He adjusted his fur lined, leather vest and sat up on his throne, still smiling.

"They'll be here soon..."

**AN: OOOH! I wonder who the mysterious man was. XP I tried to be all mysterious and ambiguous, but I think it's really blatantly obvious. Let's see, do you know who it is? **

**Oh Mushu…I'm sorry, but you are forever the most fail family guardian ever…I still love him though 3**

**I hope you liked it!**


	13. Land of Dragons Up the Mountain

**AN: Final chapter in the Land of Dragons. I think I'm going to try and do all the worlds in 3 chapters at most so that this story doesn't get too dragged out. Anyway, now we meet our mystery man from last chapter and we get some explanations.**

**Enjoy!**

**

* * *

**The path up the mountain was more dangerous than the group had expected. Not only were there countless heartless that would attack them every ten feet, but the weather itself seemed to be against them. As soon as they'd started up the mountain, a storm had rolled in, blocking out the sky that had been completely clear for the entire morning. Now they were engulfed in a blizzard that blanketed the entire trail in a fog of white for as far as the eye could see. The poor visibility not only led to the risk of separation but made it extremely difficult to see the heartless until they were right on top of them. And since half the party consisted of individuals from locales where it rarely snowed, it really was a miracle that any of them were still alive.

"Are we really going to climb the entire mountain like this?" Ed called forwards to the people he could barely see, but knew were there. He pulled the fur coat they'd given him tighter around him, but it did little to block the wind chill. He wasn't used to cold weather, but based on what he could see, neither were Sora and Riku, at least he wasn't the only one.

"The storm will die down as we go higher and clear the clouds." Mulan called back. Somehow, the thought of hiking higher than the clouds was not particularly comforting to Ed.

But they didn't really have a choice did they; they had to climb the mountain, after what Mushu said...

**

* * *

**

Several hours ago...

"An immortal man?" Sora looked completely baffled.

"I thought that was just an old fairy tale." Mulan didn't look like she understood either.

"Wait! I thought you said that there was no immortal man!" Ling Yao didn't seem too happy.

"Ed? You okay?" Ed looked up to see who was talking to him. It was Lanfan, she seemed concerned about him.

He hadn't realized how quiet he'd been, but now that he thought about it, he hadn't said much since Mushu had told his tale. About the old farmer, who Mei claimed wasn't that old, and his story about a man in the mountains who'd been able to jump from a cliff and just walk away. It didn't sit right with Ed, it sounded too much like one of them. Ed had hoped that they'd been destroyed with his world, but maybe not...that was probably too much to hope for…

"Brother?" Al looked concerned, and maybe it was just a trick of the light, but he seemed a little pale. And that definitely had nothing to do with the little Xingese girl hanging off his arm. "Are you...thinking what I think you're thinking?"

Ed nodded; he had a pretty good idea of what would make Al go pale like that. "Chances are, it's one of them."

"What do we do?"

"I don't know." Ed wanted to go up the mountain and see if he could get more information, but that probably wasn't an option. And then there was the off chance that he was somehow connected to the heartless. Ed wouldn't have come to that conclusion if Mushu hadn't brought it up at the beginning, but now it was nagging at the back of his mind. And they had come to the conclusion that someone was messing with the heartless, could it be one of them? But that would mean they were on the same side...that didn't really make sense either...

"You want to go check it out?" Sora looked concerned about Ed's silence.

Ed sighed, "Yeah, do you mind? I'll make it up to you."

Sora smirked, "Equivalent exchange right? Don't worry about, if this is connected to the heartless attack then it's my responsibility."

"And if this guy is what I think he is, then he's mine."

**

* * *

**

And so here they were, freezing their asses off on a hunch that there might be a connection to the heartless and maybe to the Elric's world just beyond the snow storm.

"We're almost there!" Mei called from the front of the group, holding the marked map and grasping it hard to keep it from flying away in the wind.

And sure enough, within the next ten minutes the snow and wind began to die down as they climbed out of the storm clouds and rounded the corner on the trail. By the time they entered the remains of the old village, burnt and crumbling, the storm had died down to a light snow flurry. But that didn't change the fact that the ground in the village was covered in a thick layer of snow that reached up to their knees, it froze their feet and ankles and made walking difficult for certain members of their group.

"Damn! I take it back, I like living in the tropics!" Riku struggled to regain his balance after stumbling through the wet substance. "So where is this guy?"

Mei looked at the map and then pointed to a peak a little ways north, but still visible from the village. "According to the man, he saw a figure leap from that cliff," she pointed to a trail climbing a neighboring mountain just beyond the valley, "He was standing there when he saw it, he wasn't really sure what he was seeing, but he was certain the man stood back up and walked this way." She closed the map and shrugged, turning to the group. "So, I guess he should be somewhere around here..."

Ed scanned the snowy scene. The village was as quiet as one would expect an abandoned, burnt out village to be, the only movement being that of the falling snow as it dusted the ruins. It was eerie, and a little unsettling.

"What happened here?" Al asked, reaching out to gently touch the remains of a house, careful, as if it would crumble into dust if he just breathed on it.

They'd been warned about the state of the village, but seeing it was totally different.

"Heartless attack." Sora explained casually. "We were tricked, and couldn't stop it in time." He lowered his eyes to his snow covered feet. "The guy who did it, was possessed by heartless. This is why we have to stop them...this is what they're capable of."

Al watched as Sora just looked quietly at the white, blanketed ground. There was a certain look in his eyes that Al hadn't noticed before. Like wisdom, but different somehow. He thought about the guilt Sora probably felt over the fate of the village and felt a little bad. He hadn't taken the heartless very seriously at first, but now he was beginning to understand the gravity the situation. Of what Sora had to deal with all the time, and the responsibility that lay on his shoulders.

"I know full well what they're capable of..." Ed broke the silence as he mumbled to himself. He had witnessed them consume his world, he knew. And he knew what responsibility meant. They were all responsible for the safety of this world, and it was time for him to put his theory to the test.

Ed walked off towards the clearing in the center of the grouping of buildings. "Hey! Where are you? I know you're here!"

"Ed! What are you-" Sora was cut off by Ed raising his hand in a silencing manner. He was staring at something just beyond the roofs of the houses. No-one spoke, mostly because no-one knew what to say.

"They're here, they gotta be!" Ed whispered to himself, as if his words would make it happen. But there was nothing but the wind and snow. Everything remained still.

"Took you long enough!"

Ed moved so fast that if one blinked they probably would have missed it. Within a heartbeat he had the speaker pinned against a crumbling wall, keyblade drawn and at the stranger's throat.

But the man only grinned, "I see you haven't changed a bit. Still as hot-headed as ever."

"Shut up! What are you doing here? How are you controlling the heartless?"

"Oooh! Jumping to conclusions are we?" The man reached up with his free hand and smashed it into the wall with inhuman strength. The plaster crumbled and Ed had to jump out of the way to avoid getting crushed by falling rubble. The man stepped back away from the collapsed wall, still smiling. "I'd like to say that, but I guess the more appropriate statement would be 'you catch on fast'."

That caught Sora's attention. He turned to talk to Al. "Hey, who is that guy? How do you...Al? Al? What are you-" Al was bolting, full speed ahead towards the stranger. Keyblade held high and a somewhat alarming battle cry escaped from his mouth as he leapt at the back of the man.

"Greed!" He called as he brought the keyblade down across the man's soldiers. Sora was worried for a moment, but then the man did something almost impossible, he caught the keyblade in his bare hands. Al tried to hold onto his weapon, but being held several feet in the air was too much and his grip slipped from the handle, dropping him to the remnants of the paved walkway below.

"Geez, don't you guys think you're over reacting? I'm trying to tell you something, you know?" This guy didn't even sound worried.

Sora tried to lunge forward and help the Elrics, or maybe help the stranger; he didn't know what was going on. Was this man someone he should be worried about, or was he an innocent person, that the Elrics just didn't like? But he didn't have to worry about the confusion because Riku put his hand out to stop him. Sora turned to protest, but his friend looked dead serious, so Sora just sat and waited.

Al looked up from his spot on the ground and smirked. The stranger's smile faded as he realized something was wrong, suddenly a flash of sparks lit up the square and snow went everywhere as the ground beneath it was transformed into javelins rising up and spearing the stranger right in the chest.

Sora winced and averted his eyes from the scene; it was a little too much for him. Whatever it was that Ed did on his world, it was clear that he was no newcomer to battle.

"Alright, Greed, tell us what you know!"

Sora flinched. Greed? That's what Al had called the man before, could it be? He braved a glance and, had he not been through everything he'd gone through, he probably wouldn't have believed what he saw. And he was still pretty shocked. The man, Greed, was pulling himself off of the blood stained spear, a massive whole straight through his chest. Blood dripped down into the snow, mixing with the white and tinting the ground an odd shade of pink. As his feet touched the floor, he simply cracked his neck and to Sora's amazement, the gaping hole began to heal itself. Red sparks danced around until there was no longer any evidence that he had ever been in a battle.

"What the-" Sora didn't even know what to say.

Suddenly Ed clapped the ground and the stones changed again, this time into the bars of a large cage. Al scrambled to his feat, grabbed his keyblade, and stumbled out of the way as the cage sealed up. Greed just stared at the bars, then turned towards Ed. "You know this isn't gonna do anything right?"

Ed just scowled at him. Greed shrugged and held up one hand. To Sora's, and he hoped he wasn't the only one, shock the hand suddenly hardened into a gray, stone-like material. He grabbed one of the bars and started to squeeze it, within seconds, the bar started to crumble.

"Hey! Knock it off!" Ed barked his orders but was ignored. Instead, it was Sora that seemed to stop Greed. He stared at the keybearer, and Sora had to admit that it made him more than a little uncomfortable.

"You, you're the keyblade guy, aren't you?"

"Um, yeah..." Sora wasn't quite sure if the guy he was talking to was human, after all that.

"Glad to see you survived that attack, this means that we still have a chance."

"What attack?" Sora asked.

"What do you mean _we_?" Riku stepped forwards, sensing a connection, and seeking answers.

"Well, not me really, more like you. I just wanted to relay some information, since it might help if you actually know what's going on."

"What are you-" Sora's question was cut off by a silencing hand from Ed.

"You really think we'll take information from a homunculus like you?"

"A _what_?" Sora did not understand that big word.

"Tell us what you know." Riku suddenly demanded.

All eyes fell on the silver haired boy, and Ed looked just about ready to protest, when he was cut off by Greed.

The man stood casually with his hands in his pockets, and didn't appear to be dressed well for cold weather, despite hanging out on a mountain summit. But he didn't look bothered by it, he wasn't shivering or shaking and his skin wasn't discolored at all. "I doubt the pipsqueak over there told you anything." Ed visibly reddened at the word 'pipsqueak'. "So I'll start by telling you that there are six others like me."

"Six other immortals?" Ling asked.

"Yeah, but we're not really immortal, just more durable. Anyway, I dunno if any of them are connected to the world's destruction or not, but I do know that they're up to something with the heartless."

"Like what?" Al asked.

"Dunno, but I know that they're trying to control 'em. And that they probably sent all these heartless here to get rid of me."

"That's why they're here?" Mulan sounded furious.

"Aren't you their ally?" Li asked, placing a calming hand on his subordinate's shoulder.

"Not really, we don't get along. It's, uh, complicated. But I know a lot about 'em and I know how they think, so I'm a liability ya know? Kinda like you."

"Eh?" Sora was just confused.

"What? You think they attacked those worlds by accident? No way man! They knew about you and they knew they had to get you out of the way! So they sent the heartless after you! And the others too." He gestured vaguely towards Ed. "And they're chasin' me down. They're determined to get us all out of the way."

"But the heartless just came here." Mulan pointed out.

"I haven't been here for very long either. Truth is I'm looking for someone, well, a couple of someones. They're different, like me, but not like me, ya know?"

"No..." And Sora really didn't get it...at all.

"Well, if you see anyone like that, let 'em know I'm looking for 'em." And with that, Greed crushed the bars of his makeshift prison and walked off towards the cliff.

"Wait!" Sora called. "What did you do to the heartless?"

"Hm?"

"They're...weaker...and they were attracted to Ed. What did you do?"

Greed shrugged, "Wasn't me. Maybe someone else is meddling with 'em. I don't really know. But here's a guess." He turned towards Ed. "They're stronger 'cause of the power of alchemy, maybe that power has been drained somehow, so now they need more, where are they gonna get it?" He was smiling again.

"Alchemists." Ed responded.

"Bingo! I dunno what's makin' 'em weaker, but that's probably why they're after you. Plus you're a threat. Now if you'll excuse me." Greed turned back towards the cliff, ready for a flashy exit.

"Wait!" Sora called again.

Greed rolled his eyes and turned around. "What is it now kid?"

"If you're on our side, why don't you fight with us?"

Greed chuckled. "Please kid, I'm may not be working with them, but I'm not on your side either. I don't need allies, only henchmen, and there happens to be no open spots right now." He smirked, shrugging. "I guess I'm not really on anyone's side, ya' know? In it for myself. Guess I'm just greedy like that." And with that, he stepped forward and fell from the edge of the cliff drifting downwards into the clouds and white eternity of the blizzard below.

"Now what?" Asked a disgruntled Donald.

"We have to stop them." Ed was dead serious, his hands balled into fists and his eyes cast downward with a serious glare.

"The 'others'?" Riku asked.

Ed nodded, "Homunculi, really dangerous, and even harder to kill."

"And now they have the heartless under their control." Sora added.

"Not for long." Riku stepped over to the edge of the cliff and looked down. Following the path of Greed's exit with his eyes. "He may not be on our side, but he told us enough. We'll find them, and we'll end them." Riku didn't actually know who these people were, or what they were after, but he wasn't going to let them run rampant on his turf.

**

* * *

**

The trek down the mountain was infinitely less exciting than the trek up. Mostly because they waited in the town for the storm to die before they made their way back down the trail. Since the encampment was destroyed, they decided to go to the palace instead. The emperor was too busy to meet with them, but they were granted permission to use the courtyard to load up the gummi ship for departure.

"You're not coming with us?" Ed asked Ling.

The young prince shook his head. "I can't, I gotta find Greed and make him tell me the secret to his immortality." He was smiling like an excited child in an amusement park.

"Just don't get killed okay?" Ed said, shaking his head. "Until Greed leaves, those heartless'll probably stick around."

"Don't worry! I can take 'em no problem!" Ling laughed, swinging his sword around.

"Watch where you're swinging that thing!" Ed shouted, ducking to avoid being decapitated by the sword's blade. "Damn, idiot prince!" he grumbled.

Ling just laughed and patted the blonde boy on the head, mumbling something about his height that Ed somehow managed to hear despite the lack of volume.

Mei looked away from the Yao prince and fuming alchemist and turned to Al, whose arm she was clinging to, eyes watery and tears already escaping down her cheeks. "Mister Alphonse, I have to stay too. I can't let the Yao clan gain the secrets to immortality before me! I must find Greed first!"

"Good luck with that." Lanfan mumbled under her breath. Mei stuck her toungue out at her.

"Be safe okay?" Al asked kindly, and Sora thought the girl was going to melt right there.

He chuckled at the scene and then turned back to Mulan. "Will you be okay?" He asked her.

Mulan nodded. "We can defeat them now, so we should be able to deal with the invasion. What about you? What are you going to do?"

Sora looked over at Ed who was being teased by Ling again. "We have to find these guys, but we don't know where they are...so we'll just have to look everywhere until we find 'em." He turned back to Mulan with a smile. "It could take a while, but it'll be nice to see everyone again."

The young warrior smiled back. "Be careful."

Sora nodded and flashed a cocky thumbs-up. "I'm the keybearer! What could go wrong?"

"Don't say that! You'll curse yourself!" Riku said through a mocking grin as he came over to the conversation. "We're all packed up, you ready to go?"

Sora nodded and started over to the gummi ship where Donald sat behind the controls and Goofy sat beside him, scanning their map. He waived for the Elrics to come, and they said their farewells and ran over.

The group said their final goodbyes and climbed into the ship. It wasn't until they were leaving the world that they realized they never did find out who or what was making the heartless weaker.

* * *

**AN: And it's Greed! (Like it wasn't obvious XP)**

**Sorry, but there's no epic battle at the end of this world…and that's not just because I was too lazy to write one...honest…I swear…**

**Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go throw some spitballs at a map and determine where everyone will be headed next. (Er, not really…)**

**Hope you liked it!**


	14. Gummi Ship To a New World

**AN: I'm really sorry that there haven't been any updates in like 3 months...I've been too busy with real life to actually write...hopefully I'll be able to budget my time better in the future...But sadly, for now, this is all I have for you guys.**

**Hope you like it any way :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't have time to steal other people's work...all the characters and whatnot belong to whoever created them...**

* * *

Sora clenched the cell phone closer to his ear so he could hear better through the bickering taking place in the gummi ship around him. Kairi's voice traveled through the device, quiet, distant and tormented with never ending static, but there nonetheless, a simple reminder for Sora that he was not alone. "Sora? You still there?" The girl's voice called through the receiver. Despite the lack of volume, Sora could tell from her tone that she was raising her voice so that he could hear her better, she'd been doing it through the entire conversation as the reception, and background noise on the boy's end, got worse and worse. At this point, she was probably screaming into her own phone.

"Yeah, I'm here, did you get everything I told you?"

"Yup! And I wrote it all down, I'll run this over to Leon and the others in a little bit."

"Good idea...and Kairi, be careful okay?"

"I'm always careful Sora."

"No, I mean...these heartless are targeting alchemists to try and get back the power that's being drained...and...well, there are alchemists in Radiant Garden right now...so they might show up...I mean, more might show up...just be careful okay?"

"Yes Daddy..." Sora could hear her giggling on the other end of the line. He raised his glance a little to examine his traveling companions, still bickering like a dysfunctional family. Ed met his gaze for a moment, a questioning look in his eyes. Sora smirked.

"Tell Winry that Ed says hi okay?" Ed turned bright red at that, and had there not been 5 feet and several people in the way, he may have tackled Sora right through the window.

"Okay!" Kairi's cheery voice revealed her ignorance to the situation on Sora's end of the line. "Call me later okay? Keep me posted!"

"Right!" And with that, the two of them hung up.

Sora held the phone in his lap, playing with the charm that hung off of the corner. He looked up at his companions with a sly smile, meeting Ed's glare last. Ed was just about ready to kill him. "SORA YOU SON OF A-"

* * *

Kairi placed the phone on the table and picked up the sheet of quickly scribbled notes. Sora had told her everything they had learned in the Land of Dragons and asked her to deliver the information to the others, which she had happily agreed to do. She scanned the information she'd written down, and her heart sank as she realized the danger inherent within the information. They were up against new, strange enemies. Ones who were harder to kill than the heartless...than the nobodies. Enemies who they knew little about and little about what they were after. "Sora...you're worried about me but..."

"Everything okay?" Kairi jumped when Winry spoke. She'd completely forgotten that the blond girl was in the room, taking a break from work in the gummy ship workshop to mooch off of Merlin's fridge for a snack.

"Yeah...it's just, I'm worried about them..."

"I'm sure it's nothing they can't handle." Winry took a bite out of an old slice of pizza and made a face. "Ewwww." She quickly wrapped the food and tossed it in the trash, returning to the fridge to find something else.

Kairi stared at the phone, "I hope you're right..." Just then, the phone lit up and made a small beeping sound as it received a text message. Kairi flipped open the device and stared at the little screen and the strange message that sat there:

sORa Sas HE lIks U! 3

Despite the pore typing and horrific spelling, Kairi knew immediately what the message said, and was sure that she was about as red as her hair by the time Winry returned with a bowl of stale cereal and a look of utter confusion plastered across her face.

* * *

"GIMME THE PHONE!" Sora tackled Ed to the ground and the cellphone went flying across the floor of the tiny cabin, landing in front of Riku's chair. The silver haired boy picked up the phone and looked at the message that had just been sent through.

He smirked and turned to Ed, "Your texting skills need some work." But considering he'd never used a cellphone before, and that Sora had been wrestling to get the phone back the entire time, it was rather impressive that the message had made it through at all.

Sora pushed himself up and held out his hand. "Can I have it back now!" His face red with anger and humiliation.

"No." Riku slipped the phone into his pocket. "We need to focus, where do we go next?"

"What?"

"What world should we go to? We need to find these homuncu-whatever-they-are and stop them before they do something irreversible."

"Do we even know what they're after?" Ed asked, as he pulled himself back into a chair.

"Take a guess." Riku said, staring at Sora, challenging his intelligence.

"Kingdom Hearts..."

"Wait...what is that again? You guys keep talking about it..." Al scanned all faces waiting for an explanation.

"The heart of all worlds." Goofy offered.

"The thing that separates the realms of light and darkness." Riku added.

"The source of a great and dangerous power." Sora concluded.

"Great." Said Al, scowling, "I now know about as much as I did 10 minutes ago!"

"If it falls into the wrong hands, it'd be really really bad." Riku said, "That's the best explanation I can give, 'cause truth is, I don't fully understand it myself."

"How bad is really bad?" Ed ventured.

"I know that countless warriors have given their lives to keep it locked up..." Sora said.

"I see..." Ed stared off in thought.

"These...things...wouldn't be the first to try and unlock that power, others have tried...and failed...they probably know that, that's probably why they're trying to get rid of us. They want us out of the way so they can succeed where the others failed." Riku said.

"What are they trying to do with that power?" Al asked.

"Hell if I know." Was all Riku could say. "Others have tried to recreate the universe, take over the world, the usual stereotypical acts of evil..."

"Any of those could be bad if the humonculi are behind it." Ed said, rejoining the conversation.

"And there's also the risk that they can't control the heartless..." Riku added.

"Can that happen?"

"It's happened before...I think...It's not easy for those with hearts to control creatures who consume hearts...historically, or at least in my experience, humans haven't been able to do it."

"Well, they're not human you know." Ed said.

"Yeah, I got that when he jumped off the cliff." Said Sora.

"Still, they could lose control of them, and I'm going to venture and say that they are the ones who fed them the power of alchemy." Riku added.

"You think they destroyed our world?"

"There's a chance."

Ed looked pissed, Al looked worried, but none of this changed the fact that they had an army of powered up heartless who may go out of control at any moment and seven semi-immortal baddies waiting for them in the near future.

"IF I MAY!" Donald suddenly snapped from his position in the driver's seat. "WHERE IN THE NAME OF THE KING ARE WE GOING!"

* * *

**AN: Sorry that not much happens...there'll be a new world in the next chapter, whenever that gets written, and I promise it'll be longer!**

**Hope you liked it!**


	15. Atlantica Sink or Swim

**AN: Believe it or not, I'm still alive, and so is this story. I've just had a lot going on and then my computer pulled a blue screen of death so I haven't been able to write. But now I'm on break so I'll try to write more.**

**Anyway, here's the long awaited next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: STILL don't own Kingdom Hearts or Fullmetal Alchemist**

* * *

"I don't see anything, are you sure we're going in the right direction?" Ed's voice was tired and frustrated, they'd been flying straight for a good few hours and had yet to come across anything remotely interesting, let alone significant.

"Yeah, it's there, we just gotta keep goin'" Sora yawned and leaned back in his seat. "Wake me when we get there…" he closed his eyes and settled in with a content smile.

"Hell, no." Riku whacked Sora over the head forcing the spiky haired teen to give up on his plan for a nap. "You're the one who picked this world so you're going to suffer through the rest of the ride with us!"

Sora groaned and stared at the map of worlds spread out on the dashboard. One specific world was circled in red ink, which was their next destination. Of all the worlds he had visited, Sora had thought that this particular one was probably the least equipped to deal with the current situation, so, surrounded by indecision, he decided that it would be their next destination. If only he'd realized how far they were before making the call. The trip there alone was taking the better half of their day and draining their patience. Not to mention, Donald still wouldn't let Sora drive the ship.

Al had actually managed to fall asleep but the rest of them were still wide-awake. Ed stared out into the empty space, the look in his eyes indicated a process of deep thought that Sora decided it was better not to interfere with. Goofy was doing…something…and Riku had been running through a list of worst case scenarios that Sora was sure were going to give him nightmares.

"So, if we lose Radiant Garden–" The teen continued.

"AGH NO MORE!" Sora screamed. "You're depressing me with all this 'worst case' stuff! Nothing's gonna happen!"

Riku smirked, "Well I guess with you around, what could possibly go wrong?"

"That sounded sarcastic…"

"What gave you that idea?"

"Is that it?" No-one had noticed that Al had woken up but now they were all looking at what he'd indicated. A world, blue and shimmering, as if it were being illuminated by light shining through a liquid surface.

"Yeah," Sora smiled, "We're here. Take us down Donald!"

"Right!" The Duck quacked.

"Wait…is that water?" Ed squinted at the world's surface.

"Yup!" Sora grinned. He'd forgotten to explain the world they were visiting to the Elrics.

"Uh…do we need special equipment or uh…"

"Nope!"

"Then how do we-"

"You'll see!"

And with that, the gummi ship dove right into the liquid surface of the strange blue world.

* * *

In the depths of the sea, in a dark cove at the bottom of a ravine where the sun could barely reach, a figure sat atop a stone. She stared into a large discolored bubble that illuminated the room with an eerie light, the only source of light in the cove. She smiled as the images in the bubble changed and danced before her eyes, eventually settling on a single image. "Well," she spoke in a smooth voice, "It seems we have some visitors."

* * *

"Wa-ah-aaaah!" Ed continued to topple over as he failed to find which way was up. He knew two things, he was under water, and he was running out of breath. As his head started to spin he flailed, searching for something to grab onto. His hand found something, and he gripped it tight and managed to pull himself into a relatively upright position. But when he looked up his heart sank. The surface was miles away, he would never reach it. As his vision started to swim he struggled to hold onto his last breath. The breath was shocked out of him by a voice.

"Brother!" It was Al's voice, but how was that possible. Ed didn't have time to think, as his last breaths left him, his body took over his mind and he opened his mouth to take in the air that wasn't there. _Crap_ he thought _this is it, I'm gonna drown_. And then something happened. He opened his mouth, and inhaled, but he didn't drown. Instead, the water passed into his lungs as if it were air. He repeated the process, again, the same result. He was breathing…underwater.

"Are you alright?" The voice sounded strange, he didn't recognize it. He looked up and as his vision cleared he found himself looking at a young woman. Her red hair flowing through the water in waves, but what got Ed's attention wasn't her hair, or the fact that she wasn't wearing much. It was what she looked like. From the waste up, she had an ordinary, and rather attractive, human body, but from the waste down, there was only the tail and fin of a fish.

Ed stared, dumbstruck. _Chimera?_ He thought. But that didn't seem right. That didn't explain anything. He checked his surroundings, he was definitely underwater, then he realized he was still holding something, it was the woman's hand, she must have grabbed him when he was struggling. The he realized he hadn't answered her question. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine…"

He removed his hand from her grasp and attempted to back away, but something went wrong, the simple walking motion failed and he toppled over again. He now had a great view of the ocean floor as he floated upside down. A grey colored fish tail hung in his face and he attempted to swat it away. When he touched it though, he felt a strange sensation in what should have been his own legs. His eyes widened in horror as he scanned his eyes up the strange appendage, only to find that it was connected to his own bare torso. This was _his _fish tail.

"Ah—aaah-AAAAH!" Ed panicked and flailed until something grabbed his arm. He was flipped over with more force than before and found himself face to face with his brother. Al's eyes were calm but concerned. Ed glanced around his surroundings, Sora and Riku were watching him, and Sora was trying not to laugh and failing. Both were shirtless, and bore similar fish tails. Ed glanced back at his brother, he was the same.

"Um…" The red haired girl floated close, unsure of how to help. She glanced at Sora for assistance.

"Don't worry Ariel, he's just not used to this." Sora didn't even try to hide his amusement.

"Okay." Ed said, finally calm, "What did I miss?"

"Well," Sora began, "this world is called Atlantica, and as you can see, it's underwater."

"No kidding."

"Well, okay, it isn't all underwater, but the important part is. Anyway we needed some, uh, modifications to adventure here. You can thank Donald's magic for that."

Ed checked, and sure enough the duck and the dog were floating nearby, sporting new, aquatic themed, body parts.

"So basically, you turned us all in to mermaids."

"Uh, mermen, technically." The Red haired girl, Ariel, offered.

"Whatever."

"Um right…then we should go to the castle…are you sure you don't need help?" Ariel stared at Ed who was swinging his arms in a maniacal manner to keep himself upright.

"I'm fine, I got this!" Ed struggled to say.

"Maybe it's because you're on the short side?" Ariel pondered.

'WHAT YOU SAY FISH LADY!" Ed fumed. He attempted to swing around in Ariel's direction, but succeeded only in turning himself back upside down. Al sighed and struggled to turn his brother upright.

"So," Riku interjected, "The castle?"

"R-right! This way." The stunned Ariel gave Ed one last glance and then started towards the exit from the cove.

* * *

The group barely made it ten feet out of the cove before Riku sensed something approaching…something dark.

"Dammit!" He shoved Ariel forward and summoned his keyblade in time to swing upwards at a heartless that had managed to sneak up on them from above. He slashed it across the face, but the water slowed down his swing and he didn't hit it with enough force. It recoiled backwards but didn't vanish. As it righted itself, Riku's allies managed to get their bearings and catch up with the situation. Sora and Al summoned their keyblades, Donald prepared to strike with magic and Ed…toppled over again as soon as he summoned his keyblade. Goofy attempted to help him up while the group charged.

The heartless wasn't a shadow, it was an aquatank, an emblem heartless that, in Riku's understanding, was largely exclusive to this unique, water filled world. It bore a large gash across its face were Riku had hit it, the wound was emitting the same dark energy produced by others when they were injured. But what caught Riku's attention, was that over its emblem, was the mark of the alchemy infused heartless. That concerned him, but he didn't have time to think about it.

Sora rushed the heartless form the right, it managed to dodge, but in doing so, it moved right into Riku's range of attack, the silver haired boy swung his blade and scored a direct hit with it's round face. The heartless disintegrated in the water just as Ed managed to pull himself upright.

"Don't tell me I missed it all!" The vertically and now aquatically challenged blond asked.

"K…I wont." Sora responded.

Riku was staring at where the heartless had been floating, when Ariel came over to him. "How long have they been here?" he asked her.

"A little while, I came back from the surface to help Daddy, but we're losing this fight."

"Don't worry Ariel!" Sora offered, trying to help, "We'll solve this problem! You'll see!"

"Sora!" Riku gestured for his friend to come over. "Did you see it?"

"See what?"

"That was an emblem heartless."

"Yeah."

"But it bore the mark of alchemy."

"Ok?"

"All the heartless we've seen so far with that power were 'natural heartless' actually, they were mostly shadows."

"Oh…"

"Uh…is this a bad thing?" Al asked.

"It means we have a lot more enemies to deal with." Riku frowned.

* * *

It took the group the better half of an hour to make it to the castle, even though they weren't that far to begin with. Most of the delays came from heartless attacks though a few were the result of Ed's swimming ability…or lack thereof.

When they arrived, the city, and the castle were not a pretty site. The outer parts of the city had been evacuated and were a wreck. There were soldiers everywhere, but most bore at least one serious injury. In the castle, the halls were lined with refugees and injured warriors. King Triton looked weary, like he hadn't slept.

Sora finished his report of everything that had happened and then stepped back to join his friends. Ed had found a very nice pillar to hold on to. Ariel stepped forward to speak with her father.

"Daddy, I think you should let them help, they know how to deal with these enemies better than we do."

The King nodded. "Of course, but I have a question, you said that these things were appearing because they were trying to defeat you, or were drawn to those who, like your friends, posses this strange power. You have all just arrived, and yet these monsters have been here for weeks. So what I want to know is why?"

"Well that's…uh…" Sora scratched his head, "Hey Riku, why is that?"

"W-why would I know!" Riku stammered.

"Is Greed here?" Al asked.

"Doubt it, The Land of Dragons is pretty far, and I don't think he had a gummi ship." Riku explained.

"Think maybe some more of our friends are here?" Ed offered.

"Unless they had magic to allow them to stay under water, they would be on the surface part, and so would the heartless, so I don't think that's it…unless its something that isn't really human…something like…"

"It's one of the others." Ed chimed in. "One of the other homunculi."

"Here?" Al looked concerned.

"Probably using it as a base or something." Ed offered.

"So, how do we find 'em?" Sora asked.

Ed thought about it and then sighed. "No idea. I'm gonna guess that it's a big ocean. I don't suppose you have any sort of data or reports of where and when these things have been showing up? Or a map?"

The king just blinked. "Didn't think so…" Ed scowled. "That's how I'd normally find something like this…"

"Actually," Ariel chimed in, "They might have stuff like that on the surface!"

"S-surface? As in dry land!" Ed's mood improved at the thought of good old terra firma.

"Yea, my husband, Eric, his kingdom has been fighting these too. It was their expert soldiers who discovered that they were coming from the ocean. That's why I came back down here."

"You think they might know where the heartless are coming from?"

"They didn't know when I left, but maybe now?"

"Even so, if they have any data, I might be able to figure it out…Ok, I'd like to go to the surface!"

* * *

The shadowy woman in the dark cove swiped her hand through the bubble and it burst into a ray of purple light that then faded, leaving the cove in complete darkness. It had been useless for a while, ever since the children had entered the palace.

"That Triton is still too strong, he can block my ability to spy on them! Guess I should have known, considering this was made by a witch that they'd dealt with on a regular basis…No matter, they wont find me…"

* * *

"Oh god I missed the sky!"

About 50 or so feet from the beach the ocean dropped off into a deeper part, that's where they were now, discussing the plan. Ed was to regain his ordinary human form, and go ashore to find information. The rest would stay in Atlantica and try to find out whatever they could while helping to keep the heartless at bay.

"Ya ready?" Donald asked.

"Well yeah, but aren't you going to wait till I'm closer to the beach?" Ed responded.

"Well then hurry up!" Donald quacked!

"Jeez, alright, I'm going." But Ed's movement was interrupted by a splash. A large aquatank exploded out of the water, spraying the entire group and leaving them dazed. As it dove back below the water, the heroes scrambled to figure out what had happened. Suddenly Donald squealed, and disappeared below the surface.

"DONALD!" Sora shouted as he grabbed the duck and pulled him back up. "Dammit! It's got him, it's trying to pull him down!"

"GWAH! Get ready kid!" Donald half quacked/half choked at Ed.

"Eh?" Ed started in confusion.

But before he had time to respond or get an explanation, Ed was surrounded in a green light, when it faded he found himself back to the way he usually was, with a pair of legs and fully clothed in heavy garments that were taking on water fast.

"Crap!" He struggled to stay above water as Donald and Sora were dragged under by the aquatank.

"Oh no!" Goofy cried as he dove after them.

"Al, help your brother!" Riku commanded as he dove under as well.

Al grabbed his older brother around the waste and hightailed it for the beach. He didn't make it all the way, finding it impossible to swim more than a certain distance without getting beached, but he made it to a spot where Ed could stand.

"You going to be ok brother?" He asked, concerned.

"Yeah, fine." Ed responded, spitting out salt water. "I'm more worried about the others right now, you go make sure they're ok."

"Right." And with that Al dove below the waves. Ed dragged himself onto the sandy shoreline, waterlogged clothes weighing him down. He stared up at the city walls, which were battered and scorched and even broken in a few places, with jagged cracks running across the white stone. Some guards could be seen, walking atop the wall, one saw Ed on the beach and called to another. The guards stared at him in confusion.

Ed waved to the guards. "Hey, think you can let me in!"

* * *

**AN: Hurray New world! And hopefully it'll be less than 6 months before the next chapter comes out XD **


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